It's Rikudou Hiraishin to You!
by e7cg13
Summary: What if the Kyuubi attack happened diffently. What if there was a case of divine intervention on that day of October 10th. "You've got the wrong omnipotent, Minato-chan. It's Rikudou Hiraishin to you!"-Living Minato/Kushina, strong Naruto, eccentric but omnipotent Rikudous, and general craziness all around. Time Travel AU
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Yes, I own Naruto. And my pet weasel is the Rikudou Sennin...oh wait, I don't have a pet weasel.

Author's Note: This fic was partially inspired by Rael Orion's _Kami no Shinobi_. Expect semi-serious crack! Time travel, AU.

It's Rikudou Hiraishin to You

Prologue

"Hey, Rikudou Sennin?"

"What? And didn't I tell you not to call me that, Uzumaki. We're both equals here."

"Yeah, yeah, but I keep forgetting your real name, even after like, an eternity of being stuck in this place with you. But anyways, I was just thinking; watching over the lower planes of existence is starting to get pretty old. I'm just bored of it all."

"Yeah, and…? Where are you going with all this?"

"Why don't we take a break and mess around with the timeline!"

"No," was the Sage's flat, deadpan reply.

"Aww, come on! You know as well as I do that time travel doesn't do a damn thing to the original reality; all this crap about alternate timelines and what not."

"I said no. And besides, what would you do anyways?"

"That's easy; first I'm gonna mess around with my dad's life for shits and giggles, starting with the Kyuubi attack on Konoha. Then I'll find that masked dude who started the Fourth Shinobi World War and kick his ass!" said the Sage's companions with childlike enthusiasm.

"Sometimes, Uzumaki, I forget that you're a transcendent, godlike entity who's just as powerful as me."

Ignoring the Sage's comment, his companion continued with his rant, "And maybe after that, I could teach the mortals a little thing or two to spice things up, and then give some random schmuck the Rinnegan. Hey, if we're lucky, he or she might even unlock the Tengoku and master all Six Paths and then we'll have someone new to talk to. It'll be so cool!"

Giving the metaphysical equivalent of a sigh, the Rikudou Sennin replied, "Fine, fine, I can see that I'm not going to be able to convince you either way. Just leave me out of it; unlike you I'm perfectly content with watching over the lower paths. Just make sure you don't mess up anything really important."

"Roger that, don't worry about a thing Rikudou Sennin. After all, I am the Rikudou _Hiraishin_."

* * *

><p>"So you noticed me already," said Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, as he watched the summoned Kyuubi no Kitsune rampage through his beloved village. The Nine-Tailed Fox was being controlled by the Sharingan of a masked man claiming to be Uchiha Madara; the same man who had interrupted the birth of his son, Naruto, and extracted the demon beast from his wife's seal.<p>

Seeing the beginnings of a _bijudama _forming in the Kyuubi's maw, Minato called out, "Not on my watch!" before forming a set of hand seals faster than a normal human eye could track. Oblivious to this, the mindless demon fired its fully formed bijudama at the Hokage Monument where Minato was standing. Any moment now, the massive energy blast would impact and vaporize both the Fourth Hokage and all of Konoha.

Fortunately, the blast never hit home, and instead disappeared harmlessly through a space-time barrier created by the Yondaime. "Gotta pick a safe place to let the huge blast detonate," said Minato after summoning a special _Hiraishin_ kunai with a poof of ninja smoke. In the background, a supernova of white light could be seen where the other end of the _jikukan kekkei_ was located.

"It stopped the Nine-Tails' attack…that was a space-time barrier technique!" exclaimed Akimichi Chouza, who had seen the failed _bijudama_ attack along with his two teammates, Nara Shikaku and Yamanaka Inoichi.

"It's Minato!"

After Minato successfully diverted the Kyuubi's most powerful attack, it left the crimson fox opened for the rest of Konoha's shinobi, led by the retired Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, to take the fight to the beast itself.

* * *

><p>"Rasengan!" exclaimed Konoha's Kiiroi Senko as he slammed the aforementioned sphere of spiraling chakra into Madara Uchiha's back. He had just won a battle of speed and space-time with the mask man, who had attacked him after he diverted the Nine-Tails bijudama. The energy released from the rasengan impact kicked up copious amounts of dust and left a large crater in the ground.<p>

Shockingly, the Sharingan user had survive the attack and jumped away from Minato as soon as possible, oblivious to the Hiraishin seal tag left on his back. He was badly wounded and clutched his arm in pain. Before he could react or even say a word, the blond-haired speedster had teleported in front of him and stabbed him in the gut with his three-pronged _kunai_.

"Ghk-…the Flying Thunder God technique, he must've put that marking somewhere on my body!"

As quick as lightning, Minato placed his contract breaking seal on Madara, freeing the Nine-Tails from his control.

"A contract seal! Are you trying to…pull the Kyuubi from my control?" asked Madara in panic.

"No, I already did! He's no longer your weapon!" replied Minato.

* * *

><p>Back in the village, a massive explosion resonated throughout the Hidden Leaf as the Kyuubi was forcibly knocked out of Konoha's walls by its shinobi guardians.<p>

"We've driven it out of the village," exclaimed the Sandaime, "Don't stop setting traps."

At the command of the retired village leader, Leaf ninja continued attacking the rampaging fox, putting in a valiant effort to protect their home.

_'Where is Minato_,' thought Hiruzen to himself in worry.

* * *

><p>"You deserve the title of Fourth Hokage…managing to wound me and wrest the fox from my control in one move," said Uchiha Madara, "But someday, it will be mine again."<p>

Minato watched as a swirl of warped space-time began forming around the masked man. As the swirling vortex grew larger, Madara's form faded more and more into nothingness as he warped himself into the dimension within his Sharingan eye.

"The fox and this whole world will bow to my will. Many doors are still left open to me." And with that, Madara Uchiha was gone.

Reflecting on his battle and the words left behind by the Uchiha ancestor, Minato said, "Something tells me he wasn't lying." Quickly remembering the situation his village was in, Minato immediately used his signature _Hiraishin no jutsu _to teleport back to Konoha in a yellow flash.

* * *

><p>"This is awful," said Minato, commenting on the destruction wrought by the monstrous kitsune during his absence. He had returned to find the village a smoking wreck; countless buildings were crushed, massive craters had been gouged into the Earth, and many lives had been taken by the rampaging Kyuubi.<p>

The Nine-Tailed Fox had finally gathered enough chakra to fire another bijudama, which was slowly forming in its mouth. Noticing this, Minato quickly performed the Food Cart Destroyer Technique, summoning Gamabunta directly on top of the fox and halting its attack temporarily.

"Its' the Fourth!" exclaimed a nameless shinobi.

Thinking back on his battle with Madara and what the masked shinobi had said upon leaving, Minato quietly muttered to himself, "Sorry, Kushina," before mustering enough chakra to teleport both himself and the Nine-Tails, leaving Gamabunta behind.

"Minato…did he teleport himself and the Kyuubi away?" asked Sarutobi in the aftermath. Suddenly, another supernova of light appeared in the distance; a result of the detonation of the Kyuubi's second bijudama. "He's out there!" exclaimed the old Hokage, pointing in the direction of the blast.

* * *

><p>Tears started to form in Minato's eyes as his beloved wife Kushina told him her plan to pull the Nine-Tails back inside of her and die so that the fox would disappear temporarily. Looking up at the Kyuubi, which was held down by Kushina's powerful chakra chains, a new, fiery resolve ignited in Minato's heart. He refused to let Kushina die!<p>

At least, not alone.

Cradling his barely an hour old baby in his arms, Minato spoke, "Kushina, you don't need to take the fox down with you. We can use our last bits of chakra to see Naruto one more time!"

"Huh…?" responded Kushina, dumbfounded. She was sweating all over from the strain of holding down the Kyuubi and the pain of its earlier extraction. Dark black bags were forming under her eyes and she was bleeding from the mouth.

"I'll seal the last of your chakra in Naruto with a _hakke fuin_. Then I'll seal the Nine-Tails away…with the Dead Demon Consuming Seal!"

Kushina looked at him like he was a maniac, "But then, the user will be…"

Interrupting her exclamations, Minato explained, "I'll only be able to seal half of the Kyuubi's power, it's just too much to seal away completely."

Kushina could see where this was going and began leaking more tears from her eyes as her husband continued, "I can't let the Nine-Tails be sealed without a jinchuuriki, or else the balance of the tailed beasts will be destroyed. But with the _Shiki fuin_, I can permanently seal half of the fox's chakra along with myself."

"And the remaining half?" asked Kushina, although she already knew the answer to her own question.

"I'll seal the remaining half inside Naruto with the Eight Trigrams Seal!"

"Now, now, Minato-chan. There's no need to go that far tonight," chimed in another voice. Turning around in the direction of the sound, Minato and Kushina beheld a mysterious figure cloaked in pure white, with the only discernible facial features being familiar looking, blonde hair hiding underneath the shadow of his hood.

TBC

A.N. And there's the prologue for you. For all of you fans of my other story, _Moral Event Horizons_, I haven't abandoned it. I've just been really, really busy with my senior year for the last few months or so. But as soon as my beta finishes proofreading my next chapter, it'll be out in a flash!

As for this story, it's really more of something I'm writing on a whim, and won't be completely serious all the time, but it can be in some places. Oh, and just try to guess who's under the hood, hehe.

Edit: I've finally decide to take the time to edit parts of my story! The things I'll be changing include formating and the use of italics in earlier chapters to fit later ones, adding chapter titles, and naming pattrn(the Japanese surname-first, and given name-last instead of the Western given name-first, surname-last). I'll also be adjusting parts of the orginal mythos for my story to better fit with new information revealed in canon.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. Get over it.

Author's Note: Chapter here is finally here. In this chapter, the identity of the mysterious white, cloaked man will be revealed. Expect some slight OOC.

Chapter 1: I'm the Rikudou Hiraishin

"Wh-who are you?" asked Kushina, obviously startled by the mysterious stranger and how he had somehow bypassed the supposedly foolproof chakra chain barrier she had erected.

After shaking off his stupor, the Yondaime's ninja instincts immediately kicked in, prompting the blond haired shinobi to chuck one of his special _Hiraishin_ kunai at the stranger. The thrown projectile stopped suddenly in midair about one inch away from the stranger's hooded face, as if halted by an invisible force field. Without even waiting for the counterattack, Minato activated his signature jutsu, the Flying Thunder God technique, causing his body to flicker out of space-time and reappear directly behind the stranger in a yellow flash.

With a Rasengan already formed in his left hand, Minato moved to slam the spiraling orb of chakra into the cloaked stranger's vulnerable back, but was stopped by a dazzling flash of white light which severely disoriented him. The next thing he knew, Minato was back to where he was before attacking, kunai still held firmly in hand.

"Don't be so hasty Minato-_chan_," said the cloaked figure in a chiding tone, "I was just about to answer your wife's question when you so rudely interrupted me."

Minato frowned at the individual's remark, insulted by his use of honorifics. He was the Yondaime Hokage for kami's sake! Not some academy school girl!

"Fine, then tell me who you are, and how you stopped my Rasengan so easily?"

The figure chuckled with mirth before replying, "It was nothing but a simple use of _jikukan_ ninjutsu. But instead of emphasizing the "space" aspect like the _Hiraishin_, my technique emphasizes the "time" aspect. As for your first question, well, why don't I just show you instead?"

The enigmatic individual began to creep forward slowly, coming closer and closer until finally, his eyes were completely visible. They looked familiar; twin pools of radiant sapphire composed of outwardly concentric rings surrounding a small, black pupil. The image of the stranger's unusual eyes pulled on Minato's memory and knowledge of the shinobi world; where exactly had he seen these eyes before?

That's when it clicked. These eyes, although a different color from that of the legend, were unmistakable. It seemed like just yesterday when his sensei Jiraiya told him and his team of _genin _about the origins of ninjutsu. These eyes…the were the Rinnegan!

"You're the Rikudou Sennin!" exclaimed Minato in shock. The cloaked stranger promptly deflated, as if his self-esteem had just been crushed in a most humiliating manner, and Kushina just looked at Minato like he was insane.

"W-what are you talking about, Minato-kun?" questioned Kushina in a hushed tone. None of this made sense to her.

"Don't you see, Kushina," explained Minato, "Those eyes…they're the legendary Rinnegan; the doujutsu of myth possessed by the founder of all shinobi arts, Rikudou Sennin."

The Rinnegan user gave off a heaving sigh before speaking, "I keep forgetting that I won't become a legend for another century or so. Now everybody in this timeline will confuse me for Sennin-teme. Man, this really bites. "

Now it was Minato's turn to look at the stranger like he was insane. "What are you talking about? Aren't you the Rikudou Sennin?"

"You've got the wrong omnipotent, Minato-chan. It's Rikudou _Hiraishin _to you!"

That moment was the very instant in which the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, having been forgotten due to the arrival of the so-called "Rikudou Hiraishin", decided to break free from Kushina's chakra chains and release a mountain shattering roar of fury.

* * *

><p>Sarutobi Hiruzen watched as a mysterious, cloaked figure seemingly conversed with his blonde successor and his red-headed wife, while the Nine-Tailed Fox remained restrained by the latter's chakra chains. The retired Hokage and the two shinobi who had accompanied him were being kept out by a barrier projected by these very same chakra chains, and from this distance they couldn't hear a single word.<p>

That is until the Kyuubi finally broke free from its ethereal bonds and let loose a massive roar that reverberated painfully against the Sandaime's aged eardrums.

Reacting quickly, the former God of Shinobi slammed Enma's staff form against the chakra chain barrier in a futile attempt to break through and give his successor much needed assistance. He was just about to start the hand seal sequence for one of his more powerful offensive jutsus when the mysterious, cloaked figure simply pointed a single finger at the freed bijuu, causing it to disappear in a poof of smoke and the jaws of all the other individuals present to drop.

* * *

><p>"H-how did y-you do that?" questioned Minato in shock and awe. The Kyuubi was the most powerful demon in the world and this <em>man<em>, if he even was one, just made it disappear with nothing but a finger. Not only that, but this same man had laid claim to the title of Rikudou Hiraishin, a title he had never heard before even as Hokage. But even an idiot could tell that it was an obvious bastardization of the legend of Rikudou Sennin as well as the Yondaime's own signature technique, the Flying Thunder God.

What it meant exactly was, however, less than obvious.

"Isn't it obvious?" said the _Rikudou Hiraishin_, spreading his arms out in a showy manner. Minato and Kushina just looked at him, unable to come up with an answer as to how the Rinnegan-user had so casually defeated the greatest tailed beast.

"I'm the Rikudou Hiraishin!" exclaimed the cloaked figure, as if it were the answer to everything. The Hokage and his wife both sweat dropped at the man's silly antics.

"We know that already!" yelled Kushina, her annoyance at the eccentric stranger growing by the second, "You still haven't explained a single thing to us! What did you do to the Kyuubi?"

"I'll tell you…on one condition," replied the Rikudou Hiraishin.

"Name your terms, and I'll grant them. The balance of tailed beasts amongst the shinobi nations is absolutely vital to Konoha," explained the Yondaime. He was prepared to give this man anything and everything he wanted; money, power, even women. The Kyuubi could not be lost to his village. Or else another world war would erupt.

"I want…a lifetime supply of ramen and cinnamon rolls!" declared the Rikudou Hiraishin. For the second time this night, Minato's jaw hit the floor.

"W-what the hell; Minato's willing to give you almost anything to get the Kyuubi back and you waste his offer on…ramen and cinnamon rolls," said Kushina in disbelief, mirroring Minato's own thoughts.

After recovering from his own stupor, the Yellow Flash turned to his wife with a grin and said, "Well, I don't know about cinnamon rolls, but a lifetime supply of ramen sounds like a pretty good deal to me."

Kushina proceeded to facepalm.

"See, granny! Great minds think a like. And if there ever was a great mind, it would definitely be me. Cuz' I'm the Rik-," he never got to finish his statement as his body was suddenly impaled by multiple chakra chains which had sprouted from Kushina's body.

"Did you just call me…granny!" roared Kushina in demonic fury, her bloody red hair flaring about in nine tail-like strands.

Despite being stabbed by numerous immaterial chains, the Rikudou Hiraishin looked perfectly fine. His white cloak wasn't even stained by as much as a single drop of blood.

"Ooh, scary. A women scorned is after all, a fury that which hell hath no. Tell you what. If you stop poking me with these chains of yours, which by the way, makes it obvious that Kushina granny here is the dominatrix in your mutual sex lives, then I'll tell you everything there is to know about everything there is to know about what exactly I did to the Kyuubi. Everything."

Kushina was just about to fly into another murderous rage at the sound of the word "granny" when Minato placed a strong, reassuring hand at her shoulder, calming the red-headed kunoichi.

"Go on, Mr. Rikudou Hiraishin; tell us how you made the Kyuubi vanish," said the Fourth.

"I didn't make the Kyuubi vanish," replied the Rikudou Hiraishin.

"Then what did you do."

The Rinnegan-user simply pointed to the still present smoke which had followed the demon fox's disappearance. The smoke cleared, revealing a small figure; a human infant with a mop of crimson hair on its head. The baby was currently sleeping in the middle of the very spot which the Kyuubi had previously occupied.

"Is that…a baby? What's it doing out here," asked Kushina. Minato was beginning to wonder as well. His highly intelligent mind began formulating dozens of different possibilities. Everyone of them was wrong.

"Yup, that's a newborn baby girl. But not just any baby…that is the Kyuubi itself, or should I say, herself, in human form!"

And then Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, fainted like an academy school girl.

* * *

><p>The man who claimed to be Uchiha Madara waited, bored, as Zetsu finished reattaching his new arm; the old one having been lost when he transferred the Rasengan damage that had been dealt to his back by the Fourth Hokage.<p>

With the procedure finished, Madara tested his new arm, finding it his liking before thanking the bipolar, plant-like man. Hearing the sound of echoing footsteps, Madara turned around to find the Deva Path of Pain and his blue-haired shadow Konan, staring stoically at him.

"So, Madara, I take it that you failed in destroying Konoha and capturing the Kyuubi," said Pain, phrasing his words as a statement, rather than a question.

"So it would seem," replied the Uchiha ancestor, while glaring at the Rinnegan-user with his one, exposed Sharingan eye.

"He also got his ass kicked for his troubles!" exclaimed another voice. Both doujutsu users' eyes widened in response; someone unauthorized had infiltrated their hideout, the Mountain's Graveyard, and they hadn't even noticed it until now.

Looking up towards the ceiling, Pain spotted a man in an elegant white cloak standing upside down. Besides a few golden blond locks poking out from under his hood, the man's features were unrecognizable.

Raising one opened palm in the direction of the intruder, Pain yelled, "_Bansho Ten'in_!"

Suddenly, as if pulled down by gravity itself, the cloaked stranger plummeted to the ground in front of Pain, who proceeded to nail the intruder to the floor by stabbing his pale hands with two chakra disruption rods created from his own body.

Pain knelt down next to the immobilized man before whispering softly into his ears, "Tell me who you are, or else I will show you the true meaning of _pain_."

"Pain; is that all you have to threaten me with. I'm afraid you'll have to try a little harder than that, darling," taunted the cloaked stranger.

Angered by his captive's words, the Deva Path violently lifting the man's body, ripping his hands away from the embedded chakra rods before grabbing him by the neck and slamming him hard against the nearest unlucky wall.

"You _will_ know pain," threatened Pain menacingly, before he got a better glimpse of the stranger's face; more specifically, his _eyes_. Suddenly gasping in shock, the former Ame orphan jumped back before taking a defensive stance next to Konan.

"What could you possibly have seen," spoke Madara, "to frighten you so much, Pain."

"Look…at his eyes," replied Pain, "They're the Rinnegan!"

Konan gasped, while Madara narrowed his own eyes. Then he saw it…although barely visible in the dim light of their hideout, the stranger's eyes were instantly recognizable. Although not the same color as Pain's eyes, they were, without a doubt, the Rinnegan.

The masked Uchiha stepped forward, approaching the cloaked Rinnegan-user calmly.

"My name is Uchiha Madara, the man who will someday rule the world and bring peace. Tell me, who are you?"

"I'm the Rikudou Hiraishin!" declared the cloaked figure dramatically.

Behind his mask, Madara's eyebrows rose. Rikudou Hiraishin, or Flying Thunder God of the Six Paths, was not a title he had ever heard of before; despite the vast knowledge he possessed pertaining to the shinobi world. The "Rikudou" part made sense, since this strange man possessed the same Rinnegan as the original Rikudou Sennin. But the "Hiraishin" part made no sense; was this man somehow related to the Yondaime Hokage.

"I'm afraid that I've never heard of you before," said the masked man.

"That's funny, because I don't think I've heard anything about you either," replied the cloaked man.

"You've never heard of the name Uchiha Madara? I'm a legendary shinobi, long thought dead, who was one of the founding members of that bloody village Konoha. I once stood at the top of the ninja world with Senju Hashirama, the First Hokage, whom I fought to the death at the Valley of the End. I was the master of the Kyuubi, for God's sake. How could you not have heard of me?" ranted the Sharingan user.

"Oh, I've heard of Uchiha Madara, all right," replied the Rikudou Hiraishin, "I enjoy waving mockingly at him whenever I pass through the afterlife. But _you_ on the other hand; I don't think I've ever heard of a famous shinobi named _Tobi_."

Zetsu gasped, Madara's eyes widened in disbelief, and both Pain and Konan raised their eyebrows in confusion.

"What…are you talking about? I'm Uchiha Madara," Tobi insisted.

"No sir, you…are full of shit," rebuked Rikudou Hiraishin.

Tobi gritted his teeth in anger before deciding that he'd had enough of this man's antics. Charging at the man with blinding speed that resembled the Body Flicker Technique, Tobi made a grab for the Rikudou Hiraishin's throat. Before his hand could connect, the Rinnegan-user disappeared in a yellow flash, reappearing behind Tobi in an instant.

'Was that Hiraishin?" wondered Tobi in his mind, 'But he used it without seals. He's even more talented than the Fourth.'

"You're far too slow for that to work, Tobi-kun," mocked the Rikudou Hiraishin before making a slash at the masked man with a regular _kunai_ in his left hand. Tobi smirked behind his mask as the kunai slipped through his intangible form, allowing him to become solid again and catch the kunai.

"It's over," declared Tobi before activating his Space-Time Migration technique, which would warp the Rikudou Hiraishin to another dimension. But instead of feeling his enemy being sucked into his Sharingan eye, the masked ninja felt his own body becoming warped and distorted.

"T-this can't…be possible," whispered Tobi in a panicking tone, "H-how are you doing this?"

"All I did was reverse your _Jikukan Ido_, or should I say _Kamui_, so that it would warp you into your own pocket dimension. It's actually rather simple when you think about it, deary. "

"Y-you…I will escape! This is my dimension after all!" exclaimed Tobi as the last of his distorted figure swirled into a hole in reality and disappeared.

The Rikudou Hiraishin turned around to find Pain, Zetsu, and Konan looking at him in shock at what he had done to Tobi. In fact, Zetsu was actually giving a pretty good impression of a fish, which is ironic because that should be Kisame's area of expertise.

"**H-he's right you know**," spoke Zetsu's black half, "**You can't trap Tobi in his own dimension**."

"_He'll just warp back here with the same technique and then you'll be doomed. That same strategy you used won't work on him twice_," finished White Zetsu.

"Then why isn't he back here yet?" asked Rikudou Hiraishin, "If you're right, shouldn't I be dead now."

Both sides of Zetsu just opened and closed their mouths, unable to come up with a retort.

The blonde Rinnegan-user decided to take their silence as an opportunity to continue, "But of course, we all know that you're wrong, and I'm right, and that cuttlefish are a species that, my dear friends, should never be forgotten. And how are cuttlefish related to our current situation, you must be wondering. To put it simply; they're not, but I enjoy being completely random at times that seem…completely random. And therefore; I say we must talk about cuttlefish."

The other three individuals in the room just continued gaping in utter confusion, finally realizing that the cloaked being was not at all sane.

"Y-you're mad," said Pain in complete astonishment, finally regaining the use of his voice.

"Well, thank me for that, because if I wasn't, spending an eternity with that stick-in-the-mud would be a lot more boring than it already is."

"W-what did you do to Mada-I mean Tobi?" asked Konan, trying to steer the conversation to a subject a little less…crazy.

"Oh him, I just trapped him in his own dimension by sealing that particular space from the rest of reality. It was really a piece of cake," answered the Rikudou Hiraishin, "Now that that's over with, we can all celebrate! We shall have a magnificent garden party and the best part is that Tobi-kun isn't invited!"

Pain narrowed his eyes before outstretching his palm and yelling, "_Shinra Tensei_!" slamming the Rikudou Hiraishin into a wall with pure gravitational force. As a follow up, the ginger-headed Rinnegan-user flashed forward in a burst of speed before impaling the white cloaked man in the shoulder, pinning him to the wall.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now?" threatened Pain.

"Because it wouldn't work; I'm the Rikudou Hiraishin, after all!"

For some reason against his better judgment, Pain couldn't help but believe that.

"Well then, if I can't kill you," continued Pain, "Then I will show you…_true pain_."

The Rikudou Hiraishin just laughed in his face.

"Like I said earlier, you'll have to try harder than that, darling. Although I don't prefer it, I can get off on a little pain now and then. I call it selective masochism."

Screaming in rage, Pain yanked the Rikudou Hiraishin from the wall violently before throwing him up and using a powerful Shinra Tensei to blow the other Rinnegan-user out of their hideout and into the sky. Gathering a tremendous amount of chakra into hands, the Deva Path slammed them together and created a small black orb.

Konan's eyes widened. Was he really going to use _that_ technique?

"_**Chibaku Tensei**_!"

The orb of black light was released from Pain's hands. Floating through the hole made through the hideout's ceiling by Shinra Tensei, the black orb quickly accelerated into the sky.

"What are you doing, Nagato? Are you really going to waste this technique on someone like that?"

Ignoring her, Pain watched as the black orb reached his target; the cloaked man in freefall.

He slammed his hands together again and yelled, "My pain is far greater than yours!" like a madman. A trembling noise began reverberating throughout the hideout, as if an earthquake was going on. Transforming her body into paper, Konan created two angelic paper wings before flying upwards to catch a glimpse of what was going on above ground.

What she saw; was both horrifying and awe-inspiring. The entire surrounding landscape, from the smallest shrub to the tallest mountain peak, was being uprooted from the very Earth itself and dragged into the sky by an invisible force. And all of it was converging on one, single, solitary point; the black orb and the white cloaked man.

In less than a minute, a miniature, floating moon had been created in the sky.

Looking up at his creation, Pain sighed in relief before collapsing on his knees, exhausted from chakra depletion.

"It is done, if that man isn't dead, than he's trapped forever. The gravitational force at the center of that moon is so great that even a tailed beast could not escape."

"I begged to differ," said a voice from behind.

Pain froze. It couldn't be, it just couldn't be. But the former Ame orphan turned around and found that it was!

There, standing less than 5 feet from him, was the white cloaked man; the man who claimed to be the Rikudou Hiraishin. He was casually leaning against the wall with a smug smirk on what could be seen of his face, acting for the world as if nothing had happened.

Naturally, Pain couldn't quite comprehend this twist of events and started raving madly, "W-what…how…y-you…I saw you…trapped…but Chibaku Tensei is…"

The Rikudou Hiraishin's eyebrows rose beneath his hood, partially amused and partially annoyed. The white cloaked man walked up to the raving Pain and full on _slapped_ him.

"Get a hold of yourself, Nagato-chan! You're a self-proclaimed god for god's sake! I have the Rinnegan too; a better one than yours in fact. Shouldn't it make sense that I would know how to escape from that technique."

Pain, surprisingly, began to calm down, despite being literally slapped in the face by an enemy.

"What do you want from us?" asked Konan, as she floated back down from the ceiling hole. "If neither Nagato nor Tobi or whatever his real name was could defeat you with their strongest techniques, then there's nothing we can do to stop you anyways."

The Rikudou Hiraishin let go of the still dazed Pain and said, "I want you guys to give up on your plans for world peace. Now, before you fly off the handle again, I'm telling you this because I can offer you something even better than the small periods of peace in an eternal cycle of hatred which you are trying to achieve, Nagato-chan. I can give you eternal, genuine peace."

Pain and Konan's eyes widened comically, shocked at what they were hearing.

"How can you…possible guarantee something like that?" asked Pain incredulously.

"Because…I've done it before; in another world, another space…another time, and I'll do it again." And with that, the Rikudou Hiraishin disappeared in a yellow flash.

Unbeknownst to both Pain and Konan, the plant-like man known as Zetsu had also vanished.

* * *

><p>Namikaze Minato's eyes fluttered opened before slowly adjusting to the harsh light of the hospital room. He had on the blue long-sleeved shirt which he usually wore underneath his <em>jonin<em> flak jacket, as well as his usual combat pants. That was good; since he wasn't wearing a hospital gown nor was he hooked up to any equipment, then that meant his injuries weren't to serious. That's when he remembered.

He had fainted like an academy school girl.

Immediately getting up from lying on his back, Minato yelled, "Where is that bastard, Rikudou Hiraishin!"

Hearing laughter from his left, the Yondaime turned his head to find his predecessor, Sarutobi Hiruzen, chuckling at Minato's predicament.

"I see now that you're finally awake, Minato. The rebuilding process after the Kyuubi attack will go much smoother now with you as Hokage," said Hiruzen, "Oh, and as for the so-called "Rikudou Hiraishin" whose name you just yelled out; he's been walking around the village helping with the rebuilding. Unfortunately, people have started calling him the "Yondaime look-alike", and some have even gone so far as to confuse him for you."

"Yeah, that sounds like him," remarked Minato, before he suddenly realized the implications of old Hiruzen's words, "Wait, "Yondaime look-alike"; what the hell does that mean?"

"It means that I look just like you, Minato-chan" spoke another voice.

Looking up, Minato came face-to-face with a mirror image of himself, standing in the doorway.

Well, not exactly a mirror image. There were several key differences. First of all, this man had a pale, alabaster skin tone, in contrast to Minato's tanned skin. His hair was blonde like his, but it had a more radiant, golden hue to it, as if it was made of woven gold itself. His face was not the same as his. It actually reminded him of a cross between Hiashi's wife and his own Kushina's face. How strange. Then there were the sapphire, concentric Rinnegan eyes that denoted this man as the self-proclaimed Rikudou Hiraishin. He definitely didn't have those.

As for the man's outfit; he was no longer wearing the elegant, white cloak. Instead, he had a carbon copy of Minato's own signature outfit, except with different colors. He had Minato's trademark cloak, but with golden flames instead of red. His jonin vest was golden instead of leaf green, and the rest of his outfit was likewise alternating themes of gold and white ivory. Even his forehead protector was a white band with a gold metal plate.

Finally, the man spoke again, "This getup really brings back memories. Now, then, I don't believe I've properly introduced me self to you."

"Really now," replied Minato, "I seem to recall you saying "I'm the Rikudou Hiraishin" over and over again."

"Yes, I did, but that's just a title. Not my real name."

Both Minato and Hiruzen listened closer, neither having heard the enigmatic individual's true name before.

"My name…is Uzumaki Choetsu, and I'm your grandson from the future."

This time, both the Yondaime and the Sandaime Hokages of Konoha fainted like academy school girls.

TBC

A.N. Didn't expect that, now did you? You probably all thought the Rikudou Hiraishin would be Naruto, but no, I just had to change things up and make him an OC. Read and review, people! And BTW, when Choetsu says , "I don't believe I've properly introduced me self to you," that's not a typo. He really says me instead of my.

Edit: Due to some constructive criticism of my fic, I decided to be a little more original with the Rikudou Hiraishin's real name, changing it from Arashi to Choetsu (which, according to Google Translate, means "transcending").


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: _**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.**_

Author's Note: I think some people are getting the misconception that Choetsu is the main protagonist of the story. HE'S NOT! It may seem like he is because he features so prominently in the prologue and first chapter, but that's only beacuse he's a highly significant character who is basically the catalyst of the entire story. But he is not the MC. Naruto is still and will always be the main character in this story, along with his father Minato, who will be a kind of alternate main character. The plot will unfold mostly through their eyes. I have no clue why you guys would think I would be dumb enough to use such an obvious Mary Sue and OC as my primary protagonist.

Anyways, here's the next chapter. Less humor in this one than the last, but I hope you guys still enjoy it.

Chapter 2: Explanations, Demonstrations, and the Red Thread of Fate

"How can we believe you, Choetsu-san? Something extremely farfetched like that…my only son isn't even a day old and you're saying I have a grandson," said Namikaze Minato after recovering from the humiliation of his second fainting spell.

His aged predecessor simply nodded in agreement, likewise recovering from his own incident of fainting. The subject of his successor's disbelief, the so-called Uzumaki Choetsu, gave a shit-eating grin at his supposed grandfather before replying, "Time travel, my dear friends, time travel. Like I said, I'm from the future."

"That's ridiculous; time travel is impossible," rebuked the "Professor".

"I'm the Rikudou Hiraishin; anything is possible for me. And besides, if I wasn't Minato-chan's grandson from the future, how could I look so much like him."

"A simple _henge _could fool a lot of people," replied Minato.

"Yeah, but not the two strongest, wisest shinobi in Konoha; I'm sure something as basic as a simple henge wouldn't fool you."

"There are other, less obvious ways of altering one's appearance," said Sarutobi.

"Fine, if you don't believe my words, then I'll just have to show you," said Choetsu before snapping his fingers. Suddenly, the entire room was illuminated by a blinding light which forced the two kage-level shinobi to shut their eyes tight. Upon opening them, Minato and Sarutobi found themselves in a place completely different from the ascetic hospital room they had been in previously.

They were on a battlefield.

* * *

><p>Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru looked on in a combination of both awe and horror at the man, no; the monster that had single handedly annihilated all of their comrades. This was the power of Hanzo the Salamander, the leader of Amegakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Rain. Dozens of elite Konaha shinobi, almost all of them of <em>jonin <em>rank, and the Ame leader just steamrolled through them as if they weren't even there. And Hanzo hadn't even broken a sweat.

Although it was rather difficult to tell from behind that bulky rebreather he wore.

It was only a combination of their skill and renowned teamwork that the three students of the Sandaime Hokage were still alive. But at the rate they were going at, the future Sannin woudn't last much longer.

Forming a sequence of hand seals, Hanzo summoned a swarm of exploding tags from the ground beneath Tsunade's feet. In seconds they would wrap around the medic-nin's feet and detonate, killing the Senju heir. Luckily for her, Jiraiya was quick to notice and used his long, needle-like hair to grab Tsunade and protect them both from the chain of explosions that followed.

"What?" exclaimed the Salamander-like shinobi, surprised at the failure of his attack. Suddenly, snakes wrapped around Hanzo's body, immobilizing him. Orochimaru had made use of Hanzo's momentarily distracted attention to trapped the Ame leader with his Hidden Snake Hands.

"_Hari Jigoku_!" exclaimed Jiraiya, who sent a barrage of hair needles at the immobilized Hanzo. Unfortunately for the Leaf nin, their enemy used a quick _Shunshin_ to escape the assault, transporting his boss summon, Ibuse along with him.

Little did Hanzo and the future Sannin know that their battle was being watched.

* * *

><p>"W-what is this? I-impossible," stammered the aged Sandaime as he watched his three students battle Hanzo from the sidelines. Standing next to him was his successor, who was also gaping at the remarkable scene, along with the self-proclaimed Rikudou Hiraishin, who had a look of smug indifference on his face.<p>

'This must be some kind of genjutsu,' thought Sarutobi, 'It's the only explanation.'

Putting his hands together in a tiger seal, the God of Shinobi disrupted his own flow of chakra in order to break the illusion. Nothing happened. He tried again. And again. And again. But the illusion. Just. Wouldn't. Disappear.

"H-how can this be," stuttered Hiruzen in disbelief. "Why isn't the genjutsu disappearing?"

"It's no use, Sandaime-sama," said Minato, "If this was an illusion, my anti-genjutsu seal would have taken care of it."

"Anti-genjutsu seal?" questioned the aged Hokage.

"It's a special seal invented by Minato-chan over here that triggers whenever the user is caught in a genjutsu and then breaks them out, no matter how skilled the castor is. It's similar to the partner method used by perfect jinchuurikis," answered Choetsu, preventing the Yondaime from explaining it himself.

"And how exactly would you know about my seal?" interrogated Minato, clearly not amused. The blonde time traveler just shrugged and said, "I'm the Rikudou Hiraishin. That's all there is to it."

Minato scrunched his face up in annoyance before saying, "Well then, if what we're seeing here is not an illusion, then that must mean that you really are a time traveler, Choetsu-san."

"So you believe me then."

"I believe that you're a time traveler, yes, but whether you really are my grandson or not is still not clear to me."

"I don't think he's lying, Minato-kun," said Hiruzen, "He resembles you too much, and it can't be a genjutsu because of your seal."

"See, even the old man believes me!" said Choetsu enthusiastically, "Come on, Minato-_jiji_, stop being so paranoid. If I wanted to destroy all of Konaha and the rest of the entire shinobi world along with it, I could do so in a millisecond. There's no reason for me to be deceptive about this."

Minato sighed heavily, before replying, "Fine, I believe you…for now. But take us back to the present immediately. I have a lot more to discuss with you."

"Sure can do, gramps!" And on that note, the time displaced trio vanished with a flash.

* * *

><p>As soon as they were back in the hospital room, Konoha's reigning Hokage began his interrogation.<p>

"Why exactly did you come to the past, Choetsu-san?" was his first question.

"Is that really the first thing you're going to say to me, Minato-jiji? You're not going to thank me for saving the village."

"What are you talking about; I'm the Hokage, I was perfectly capable of protecting my own village."

"Yes, you are," replied Choetsu, "but at what cost. Think about it, gramps. What would have happened if I didn't come and discombobulate the big bad Kyuubi for you."

Minato froze. He hadn't thought of that. "I would have used _Shiki Fuin_ to seal the Kyuubi's yin chakra inside the Death God's stomach, and then I would have used the _Hakke Fuin_ to seal the rest of the Fox's chakra in Naruto."

Hiruzen was shocked; if Minato was to use Shiki Fuin like he said, then that would mean his death. To sacrifice not only his life but his very soul for the village like that…this man was truly worthy of his title. He was glad he had picked Minato over Orochimaru.

"Exactly, and as a result of your sacrifice, your wife Kushina-baa-chan would also die, and young Naruto would become the new jinchuuriki and an orphan. In fact, this is exactly what happened in my timeline."

"Your timeline?" asked Hiruzen.

"Yes; in the reality I come from, the Yondaime Hokage and his wife both sacrifice themselves to stop the Kyuubi and seal it within their son, whose childhood becomes filled with loneliness because the villagers couldn't see past their hatred for the Nine-Tailed Fox."

Minato looks at the floor in shame. "I would have wanted Naruto to be seen as a hero."

"I'm sure you would, but you know how demon hosts are typically treated in this world. It would have never worked out."

Reading the guilt forming on his predecessor's face, Hiruzen said, "Don't punish yourself over this Minato; it was the only thing you could do."

"If it makes you feel better, ji-chan," said the Rikudou Hiraishin, "Naruto never let any of the loneliness or hateful glares get to him. Eventually, he saves the world from a great evil and becomes the Rokudaime Hokage."

The expression of guilt on Minato's face turns to one of sheer, unbridled pride for his son, "Naruto…he's amazing. He manages to accomplish all of that even when Kushina and I aren't there for him."

"Yeah, and now that you can be there for him, Naruto will become something even greater. Use the opportunity that's I've given you to its fullest potential," said Choetsu.

"Is that why you've come to the past, Choetsu-san?" asked Hiruzen, "To make the future a better place."

The Rikudou Hiraishin gave the two a radiant smile before replying, "The future already is a better place. Naruto saw to that. He saved the world and created a genuine, lasting peace. And I protected that peace; not only as the Hachidaime Hokage and the Rikudou Hiraishin…but as the Shodai Kamikage."

* * *

><p>Uzumaki Kushina was never a morning person. Mostly because she absolutely hated the feeling of being woken up from a blissful slumber, especially one filled with dreams of her and Minato participating in certain…activities.<p>

But no groggy morning could ever compare to the pain and discomfort Kushina was feeling now as she regained consciousness. Her entire body was sore and numb at the same time, a completely anatomical contradiction. She felt so very cold, as if there was a freezing void in the pit of her stomach, signifying the absence of Kyuubi. And she really, really, had to pee.

"Oh god, Kushina, I'm so glad your awake!" exclaimed a male voice to the left of her. Tilting her head to the sound of the voice, Kushina found herself looking at her beloved husband, sitting in a chair wearing his blue shirt and reading one of Jiraiya's books.

"M-Minato, what happened," asked Kushina weakly.

"How're you feeling, Kushina. What do you remember?"

"I feel like shit," replied Kushina, followed by a painful, little laugh that racked her sore, numb body, "And the last thing I remember was you fainting like a school girl after that cloaked man told you he transformed the Kyuubi into a baby girl. Then after that, he like, said something to me that I didn't really understand and then I lost consciousness. But why am I, like, still alive. The Kyuubi got ripped out of my seal by that masked guy, and even an Uzumaki like me can't survive something like that for long."

"Choetsu must have healed you somehow," said Minato, "It's just another thing I need to thank him for."

Kushina was confused. "Who's Choetsu?"

Minato sighed for the umpteenth time that day, "Listen Kushina, I have a lot of things I need to explain to you. First of all, do you remember the cloaked man who saved us from the Kyuubi?"

"Y-yeah, he was the guy who was all like, "I'm the Rikudou Hiraishin", and all that."

"Well, turns out his real name is Uzumaki Choetsu, and he's our grandson from the future."

After Minato finished his statement, his beloved wife just looks at him with a blank, unnerving stare. Then…

"Ahahahahaha!" Kushina laughed uncontrollably; her body started going through a phase of uncontrollable spasms and tears began forming in her eyes. "That's, like, totally ridiculous, Minato! What Uchiha genjutsu'd you while I was asleep and when will you give me permission to hunt him down and pound his face in until it's inverted?"

Minato unfazed, simply held his gaze with Kushina; the unfaltering expression on his face showcased the Hokage's stone-cold seriousness.

Kushina, who was still in denial, said, "Uhh, sweetheart, you can, like, stop it now. I'm not falling for such a ridiculous prank!"

"This is no joke," replied Minato, the serious look still persisting on his face.

Kushina's eyes widened. "Y-you're serious, aren't you. But h-how?"

"I saw it for myself. And even then I had doubts; but now that I think about it, there's no reason for Choetsu to be deceptive. He's so powerful that it wouldn't even matter if he was lying or not, so I have no choice but to believe. And besides; the resemblance is far too great, and no _henge_ could fool me or Sarutobi-sama. "

"He looks like you under that cloak?" asked Kushina incredulously.

"Yeah, he does; he looks like a carbon copy of me with your face and the skin tone of Hiashi-san's wife."

Kushina's face brightened up suddenly, "Oh, how interesting! Maybe that means that Naruto marries a Hyuuga when he grows up and has a baby!"

Minato chuckled at his wife's change in mood, "That's a possibility; Choetsu never told me who his mother was. But I was a little too occupied at the time to really think about something like that."

"W-where is…Choetsu?" asked Kushina hesitantly, the Rikudou Hiraishin's name rolling off her tongue awkwardly.

"He said he was leaving and vanished. Didn't even tell me where he was going or what to do now," answered Minato, "The last things he said to me was to take care of Naruto and Kurama."

"Kurama; who's that?"

"That's what Choetsu called the Kyuubi," said Minato.

"What!" exclaimed Kushina, "The damned fox has a name!"

"Yeah, and now her name, since she's a baby girl now, will be Namikaze Kurama. "

"Wait, what! Don't tell me that you plan on, like, adopting the _freaking _king, uh, I mean queen of bijuu! Meeting this Choetsu guy has made you crazy!"

"It's not crazy; it's actually a perfectly logical plan. Even Sarutobi-sama agreed with me. Kurama-chan is basically a blank slate now, according to Choetsu. If we raise her right and protect her from the corrupting influnces of her chakra, then she'll grow to become a fine shinobi and individual. We'll be doing basically what no jinchuuriki has done before; tame their bijuu and transform them into a force for good."

"Yeah, but still; this is the Kyuubi we're talking about. The beast who almost destroyed the entire village and probably killed a lot of people in the process. How are you going to explain the baby Kyuubi's existence to the villagers, huh Minato?" questioned the Uzumaki.

"Well, the official cover story is that Naruto and Kurama are twins," said Minato.

* * *

><p>Somewhere in an abandoned forest near the border of Mizu no Kuni, the Land of Water, Uzumaki Choetsu pondered his previous and future actions. He had only been in the Human Realm of this timeline for a little less than a week, yet he had already changed everything so drastically. With the Fourth Hokage and his wife living past the Kyuubi attack, his father's life would be much different.<p>

"Hmm, let's see. What have I done so far," said Choetsu, talking out loud to himself, "Well, I intervened in the Nine-Tails rampage and saved Minato-jiji and Kushina-baa-chan, and then I kicked Tobi's ass. So that's two things to check off my initial list. I haven't really taught the mortals anything all that useful yet, but I can save that for later. So that leaves one thing…"

The Flying Thunder God of Six Paths suddenly disappeared in a radiant, yellow flash normally associated with his paternal grandfather during this time period. Reappearing instantly a few miles away, the Rikudou Hiraishin suspended himself in midair a couple hundred metes off the ground above two rocky mesa-like hills. On top of these hills were buildings and various man-made structures, evidence of the village that resided there.

The two hills were connected by a bridge. The village itself was rather small, belonging to none of the Five Great Shinobi Nations. It was called Nadeshiko Village, and it consisted almost entirely of females.

Casting a genjutsu that even an ordinary Rinnegan could not see through in order to mask his presence, Choetsu descended down towards the village and phased through the walls of a rather important looking building. Inside, a woman with long, black tresses of hair in a distinctive _hime_-cut style had just given birth to a newborn baby girl.

'Shizuka, the future leader of Nadeshiko Village,' thought Choetsu to himself, 'As a one-episode filler character, you're about as random as it can get. I hope you appreciate the handy _dojutsu _I'm going to give you.'

* * *

><p>"This is not my daughter!" yelled Uzumaki Kushina, startling the two sleeping newborns awake. Her husband tried to shush her quietly but was having tremendous difficulties with the task.<p>

"Calm down, Kushina! You're going to make Naruto and Kurama cry!"

"I can't believe this Minato! How can you even expect me to accept this…this _thing _into our home; into our family. This is the very same demon that's been haunting me from the very core of my soul since I was a little girl!"

"That's not true," argued Minato, again trying futilely to calm his raging wife, "Kurama is a blank slate now. She's not like the old Kyuubi. She's just a little girl, and if we raise her right, she'll grow up to be a great individual. Please, for the sake of the children, just let this go, Kushina."

"How do you know!" screamed the Uzumaki, "How do you know that this girl isn't just going to transform back into the beast one day when we least expect it and destroy everything we consider precious to us? Answer me, Minato."

"Choetsu told me; he assured me that as long as Kurama is raised right, she won't be a danger to us," answered the Yondaime.

"And you believe him! What a load of bullshit! This guy claiming to be your grandson from the future gives you a little light show and now you believe everything he says. Well, I won't allow my self to become fooled by him so easily!"

Sighing heavily, the Hokage pinches the bridge of his forehead in frustration, "Listen, Kushina; the way you're acting right now, I can completely understand it. You've been the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki for a long time, and it must be hard for you to look at Kurama as anything else but a demon fox, especially after everything that has happened so far."

"Y-you think you can understand me, huh. Do you _honestly_ believe that you could even possibly understand what its like to have a demon sealed in your fucking STOMACH! To live as someone completely alienated from the rest of society! Honestly, if it weren't for you, Minato, I would have gone crazy from it all along time ago! And now you expect me to treat the cause of all my pain like a daughter!"

Flying into complete and utter rage, the crimson haired woman made a grab for baby Kurama, who was completely wrapped in a swaddling, white linen cloth. Minato watched in horror as Kushina held the now bawling infant roughly in her arms.

Fortunately, Minato would never know exactly what Kushina planned to do with the demon fox turned baby girl, because at that exact moment, the cloth wrapped around Kurama's head fell away, revealing the newborn's mop of crimson hair. Kushina stopped.

"H-her hair…it's the same color," said Kushina as she began to tear up, "It's the same color as my hair."

Carefully brushing the infant's red locks with two fingers, Kushina watched as Kurama ceased her crying and began to coo, looking widely at the Uzumaki with her cute, blood-red eyes.

Taking a lock of her own hair, Kushina wrapped it around Kurama's pudgy fingers and began rocking the baby back and forth, quickly lulling her into a deep sleep.

"The red thread of fate, huh," whispered Kushina softly, "I guess this means you have it to, Kurama-chan."

Minato, who had been watching the entire time, gave the red-haired pair a heartwarming smile before embracing his wife and holding her in his arms. After brushing the tears from Kushina's eyes, Minato whispered, "See, that wasn't so bad. She really grows on you doesn't she. At first, my thoughts about Kurama were the same as yours; I just expressed them less violently. But after no more than five minutes with the girl I felt like…like she really is my daughter."

Kushina gave her blonde husband a peck on the cheek before placing Kurama next to Naruto on the makeshift baby bed in their shared bedroom. Both newborns were deep asleep; Kurama was snoring softly and Naruto had drool leaking from his mouth.

"Namikaze Naruto and Namikaze Kurama, huh; you two…you are our children. You are the future."

TBC


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto, not some random dude whose pen name is e7cg13. Seriously, if I owned Naruto would I be writing fanfiction.

Author's Note: This chapter takes place after a timeskip of twelve years.

Chapter 3: A Look at the New Generation

"Hokage-sama, Naruto and Kurama…they're at it again, sir," yelled a nameless _chunin_ frantically as he entered Hokage's office. Minato looked up from the pile of paperwork on his desk before asking, "Sigh, what did they do this time?"

"I think they just redecorated the Hokage Monument, sir," answered the chunin.

"The entire monument, including my face?"

"No, Hokage-sama, I think they decided to avoid painting your head on the mountain."

"Oh good, that's fine then," said Minato with a light chuckle.

"But sir!"

"Oh, fine. I better go handle this." And with that the Yondaime disappeared with a yellow flash.

* * *

><p>"Hey you two; get down from there this instant!" yelled Umino Iruka. The chunin instructor was currently leaning at the edge of the Hokage Building's roof, with one foot standing on top of the railing. A vein was bulging in his temple, indicative of the raging temperament which the teacher currently sported.<p>

Namikaze Naruto and his red-headed twin sister Kurama were both hanging from the stone head of the Sandaime with painting equipment in their hands.

Yelling back at his _sensei_, Naruto exclaimed, "No way Iruka-sensei! This prank is my newest, greatest masterpiece, and Kurama-chan's too, _dattebayo_!"

"Yeah, Naruto-nii's right! None of you would be able to do anything even close to this, '_ttebane_!" exclaimed Kurama, "Not even my daddy, as cool as he is."

"Really? Is that so?" said an amused voice from above. Looking up, Naruto and Kurama spotted their father himself, standing on top of the Sandaime's head wearing his formal Hokage robes minus the hat.

"Dad!" yelled both Namikaze children at the same time. "When did you get here?"

"Oh, just now; I dropped everything when I heard you two were up to your usual antics again."

"Hokage-sama, I'm so terribly sorry about all this!" Iruka apologized, "I'll take care of it right away!"

Sucking in a huge breath of air, Iruka puffed his chest up before _roaring_, "What the hell are you doing during class time! Get down here now!"

The sheer intensity of his voice startled the twins, causing them to fumble with their painting supplies.

"Naruto, Kurama, listen to what your sensei says," said Minato in a stern voice, "Or else I'm telling your mother."

Naruto and Kurama both froze in abject horror. 'Now they're bound to listen,' thought Minato with a smirk.

"No, please, anything but that!"

* * *

><p>"Listen up class, since Naruto and Kurama here have wasted my precious lecture time with their pranks, I think its time for a pop quiz!"<p>

Iruka's students all groaned collectively; some of the boys were even glaring harshly at Naruto. Of course, the Hokage's son merely ignored the stares, self-assured that they were just jealous of him.

"Now then, I want you to all line up in alphabetical order and perform _Henge no Jutsu_. Transform yourselves into a replica of me."

One by one, the academy students all took their turns and transformed into their sensei; some performed the jutsu excellently, some failed, and some just barely passed. When it was finally Kurama's turn, the red-haired, whisker-faced vixen completed the necessary hand seals and transformed into a perfect replica of Iruka with a puff of smoke.

"Excellent, Kurama-hime!" exclaimed Iruka in enthusiasm, "As expected of our top student; you performed the jutsu perfectly. Now then, Naruto, you're up next!"

Grinning like a madman, the short blonde-haired prankster approached the front of the class. The twelve-year old boy was wearing a black tracksuit with orange stripes on the sleeves, similar to the one he had seen his father wearing in old photos of him as a kid. His short, unruly sun-kissed hair was left wild, untamed, and free, giving him a slightly rugged look. Like his sister, he had three distinctive whisker marks on both cheeks.

"I'll show you all my super awesome and completely original technique!" exclaimed Naruto before placing his hands in a tiger seal and releasing a burst of chakra. The boy was enveloped by a cloud of smoke which soon cleared, revealing…a naked female version of Naruto.

At the sight of the completely exposed and highly voluptuous blonde women, Iruka was launched away by a stream of his own blood.

After releasing the technique, Naruto started bellowing in laughter while holding his sides tightly. "Oh man, that was rich! I call that my _Oiroke no Jutsu_, 'ttebayo."

"DON'T INVENT STUPID SKILLS, YOU MORON!" screamed an enraged Iruka, whose head had expanded and become more demonic in appearance. "The graduation exam is tomorrow, and I know that this is only your first time taking it, but you have to be more serious about this, Naruto!"

Naruto just brushed off his sensei's comment, and began to turn around to head back to his seat when he was assaulted by a massive killer intent coming from every girl in the entire class room. It didn't help that 99% of that killer intent was coming from his own sister.

"How many times have I told you not to use that technique in the presence of girls, dattebane!" screamed Kurama before punching her twin with a chakra-enhanced fist, smashing Naruto into the nearest wall. Every boy in the class promptly shivered in fear; and a few girls as well.

With the usual Namikaze antics over, the rest of the demonstrations went rather smoothly.

"Uchiha Sasuke, it's your turn now," said Iruka. The quiet, dark-haired boy promptly stood up from his seat and made his way to the front. The Uchiha wordlessly performed the jutsu, transforming into a near-perfect replica of his sensei.

"Outstanding, Sasuke!" said Iruka in praise, "Your _henge_ was the best so far besides Kurama. The only thing that's a little off is the detail of my scar."

Instead of being pleased by his teacher's praise, Sasuke frowned before giving a slight, barely noticeably glare to the Hokage's daughter.

"Yeah, go Sasuke-kun! You're the best!" cheered Sakura Haruno from the background. She was Sasuke's pink-haired admirer/fangirl.

"You're wrong, forehead girl!" exclaimed Ino, Sakura's best friend and rival, "Naruto-kun's obviously so much better then that stick in the mud."

"Take that back, Ino-pig!"

After a few more students went, the pop quiz was over.

"Well done, class. Although we had a few failures, I think it's safe to assume that you're all ready for tomorrow's test; at least the transformation portion of it. So good luck to you all, and remember to study and get plenty of rest tonight."

After being dismissed from class, Naruto and Kurama walked out of the room together; ready to go home to their family. Before they left however, they were stopped by a certain Inuzuka.

"Yo, Kurama-chan, that was so awesome, what you did earlier. Not even Sasuke did a better henge than you," said Kiba, "How 'bout you and me get together sometime?"

Kurama sighed in frustration, while Naruto gritted his teeth in sheer annoyance, "For the last time, Kiba, I'm not interested," replied the red-haired vixen before walking off.

"Aww come on, baby. You know you can't resist me!" yelled Kiba as he tried to chase after her. He was stopped by Naruto however, who had grabbed his shoulder.

"Get lost, dog-breath, if my sister says she's not interested, then she's not interested!" Naruto growled.

The dog-lover shook Naruto's hand off before saying, "Pff, what do you know. You're nothing but a dead least. I mean seriously; somebody please tell me that you were adopted, cuz' there's just no way that a crappy ninja like you could possibly be the Hokage's son or Kurama-chan's brother."

The Namikaze heir glared at the Inuzuka before socking him in the face and walking away.

* * *

><p>"So, Iruka, how are my children doing?" asked the Hokage. Iruka was startled and looked up from the homework he was grading. The chunin found his blonde haired leader sitting across the room in Naruto's seat.<p>

"Hokage-sama! I didn't notice you coming in!" stammered Iruka profusely.

"Well of course not; I would be worried if people developed the ability to actually notice my _Hiraishin_."

"W-what is it that you need me for, sir?"

"I just wanted to drop by and ask you about Naruto and Kurama. It is there graduation exam tomorrow. Do you think they will pass?"

"Kurama will definitely pass, Hokage-sama. She is our top student; even Uchiha Sasuke falls short of her skill. Which is surprising considering the amount of time she spends pranking," Iruka replied, "As for Naruto; to be honest, sir, and I mean no disrespect, but I'm a little worried about his chances of passing."

Iruka hoped with every fiber of his being that he hadn't offended the village leader, but his fears proved unfounded when Minato gave him a wide grin and said, "I see. Naruto isn't as proficient in the ninja arts as Kurama, but I have my utmost faith in him."

"Really? Aren't you worried, Hokage-sama?"

"No, I'm not; Naruto will pass," said Minato with absolute confidence, "There's just something about my son; something that says as plain as day that he's the kind of person who will surprise you when you least expect it. That's why I believe in him. He will pass."

"Does he ever ask you for help, sir?" asked Iruka, who was genuinely curious. Naruto, despite his antics, or maybe because of them, was always a source of intrigue for Iruka.

"No, I've offered many times in the past, but he always refuses. He says he wants to learn how to be ninja on his own without my help. The most he's ever ask for are the occasional little tips and of course jutsu scrolls to learn from."

"Naruto, he's an enigma isn't he," said Iruka, "I remember when he and Kurama first joined the academy. He did very well and showed a lot of potential, but then after a few weeks he stopped applying himself and slowly dropped further and further in rank, until he was at the bottom of his class. Maybe, if that had never happened, he would be my top-ranked student instead of his sister."

"Maybe," said Minato, "That might just mean something."

* * *

><p>"Mom, we're home!" greeted Naruto and Kurama as they enter the front door of their family estate. The two twelve-year olds dropped their bags on the nearest sofa before a voice from the kitchen rang out to them, "Welcome home, sweethearts. I made you two some snacks. I figured that you would need them because school must be getting pretty hectic, especially with the exams coming up."<p>

"Thanks mom, and yeah school has been pretty hectic lately. Just today me and Kurama pa-ow!" Kurama had just elbowed her brother in the ribs, preventing the blonde from accidently revealing their misadventures to their mother. "Uhh, I mean we participated in a pop quiz with the rest of the class, hehe."

"What kind of quiz? I hope it wasn't too hard. I was never really good at written exams," said Namikaze Kushina.

"It was just an evaluated demonstration of the Henge no Jutsu, nothing too difficult, Mom," answered Kurama.

"Oh I see; well, as long as you two are staying out of trouble."

"Oh, of course Mom, 'ttebane," said Kurama nervously. Naruto was likewise rubbing the back of his head in a sheepish manner. Meanwhile, Kushina was thinking to herself, 'This is unreal; as soon as I finally got over saying dattebane whenever I get worked up, Kurama starts copying me. And I thought it was bad enough when Naruto started saying that dattebayo crap.'

Grabbing the snacks made for them by their mother, the two siblings went off to their shared bedroom to prepare for the upcoming exam.

* * *

><p>Namikaze Minato sat Indian-style on top of his head on the Hokage Monument as he looked over the village he had sworn to protect. It was that time of day again. While Kakashi had the memorial stone and Sarutobi had his long walks around the village, Minato had his carved visage as a place of solace for himself. It was quiet, serene, and most importantly, unreachable for any normal person, whether they be shinobi or civilian.<p>

Here, the Yondaime could escape from the paperwork and politics of being the Hokage and think about his life. He was so fortunate to be living the way he was right now; a loving wife, two beautiful children, plenty of close friends, and the respect of the entire village.

That's why, now more than ever, Minato couldn't help but wonder sometimes what the world would be if a certain someone had not intervened on that day of October 10th, twelve years ago.

Of course, he already knew the answer to that question. Naruto would be an orphan and a jinchuuriki, shunned by the village, Kurama would still be an evil demon fox, and both Kushina and he would be dead. It made him shiver just thinking about a world like that.

"Mind if I join you, Minato-_jiji_," spoke another voice out of nowhere. Spooked from his thoughts, the blonde Hokage turned towards the sound of that voice and found an almost carbon copy of himself.

"Choetsu, is that you!" exclaimed Minato in shock, "W-what are you doing here! I haven't seen you in twelve years!"

"Well, I haven't seen you in ten minutes," was the Rikudou Hiraishin's reply.

Minato gaped, "W-what?"

"From my point of view I mean; time travel, remember."

"Oh, right. Well then, what exactly are you doing here?" asked Minato.

"What, I'm not allowed to go hoping across time and space for the sole purpose of talking to my grandfather, who by the way, is _dead_ in my original timeline."

"Sorry if I offended you, Choetsu; I didn't mean it like that."

"No need to be sorry, after all, I did come here for a reason, to tell you the truth. Naruto and Kurama should be graduating from the academy soon and becoming full-fledged shinobi, _genin_ to be exact. Am I correct?"

"Yeah, the graduation exam is tomorrow," replied Minato.

"Well then, I have a proposal to make to you," stated Choetsu.

"And what would that be."

"When both Naruto and Kurama make _chunin_, which I bet Sennin-teme's Treasured Tools on being as soon as they take their first chunin exam, I want to take them away on a two-and-a-half year training trip with me."

"That's a really interesting proposal, but Jiraiya's already offered to do the same."

"Oh come on, do you really want Naruto's soon-to-be pubescent mind in constant contact with _Jiraiya_ of all people for over two years. Even with Kurama there, I fear for the future of Naruto's chastity."

"You've got a point; I'll think about it, Choetsu."

"Oh goody, now then, on to some more business," said Choetsu enthusiastically.

"You have more proposals to make of me?" questioned the Yondaime.

"Yes I do in fact; will you marry me?"

Minato promptly face palmed before he formed a Rasengan and slammed it into Choetsu's stomach. Fortunately for the Rikudou Hiraishin, his Preta Path technique absorbed the spiraling sphere of chakra before it could do any actual damage.

"Wow, what a harsh rejection. If you were a lady I would strongly pity anyone dumb enough to ask you out, which in another universe would probably be a gender swapped Kushina-baa-chan."

Konoha's Yellow Flash continued glaring menacingly at the instigator of his righteous fury.

"Calm down, ji-chan, I was only joking. I am neither of the homosexual persuasion, nor am I into incest unless it involves insanely beautiful, exotic women."

"Be serious, Choetsu, do you really have anything else to discuss with me," growled Minato.

"Just one more thing, but we can't discuss it here," stated Choetsu.

"Where then, can we discuss this topic, whatever it is?"

"Somewhere far, far away; a place where even your Hiraishin cannot reach. And if we go there, understand that because of what I'm about to show you, we won't get back here for a few days."

"But Naruto and Kurama are going to graduate tomorrow! I can't be gone for that. And besides, even if it takes that long, can't we just time travel back."

"This is a matter of utmost importance, vital to the timeline itself. It's a lot more complicate then you think. You _will_ be missing the next few days; it can't be helped. I'm sorry."

Minato frowned, unwilling to leave his village and his family like that on such short notice. "Fine, I trust you Choetsu, just let me leave a note for Sarutobi-sama so he can cover for me."

Minato formed a few hand seals before slamming his palm against the ground, causing a complicated array of strange characters to appear. Forming one last hand seal, Minato caused the array to disappear in a small puff of smoke.

"What was that?" asked Choetsu.

"That was a _fuinjutsu _I invented myself. It allows me to place a message in a seal that can be accessed by the chakra of a specific person. It's a lot faster then writing a physical letter. I teleported the messenger seal as I call it to Sarutobi-sama's office for him to read, but of course, you already know all of this, don't you. You're the Rikudou Hiraishin after all," explained Minato with a smirk.

"Touché," replied Choetsu.

"Huh," said Minato.

"It's French; don't worry about it, there's no such language in this particular universe."

And with that, the Rikudou Hiraishin snapped his fingers and the two were gone.

* * *

><p>"Who fought the Shodai Hokage at the Valley of the End?"<p>

"Some guy named Uchiha Madara, I think. Is that right, Kurama-chan?"

"Yup yup, good job, nii-san. What was the Uchiha Segregation Act and why did it fail?"

"Umm, something about the civilian council trying to segregate the Uchiha clan on suspicion of being behind the Kyuubi attack twelve years ago; it failed 'cuz our old man stopped it and identified the real culprit of the attack."

"Good, see Naruto, the written part of tomorrow's test won't be as hard as you think, 'ttebane" reassured Kurama.

"Yeah, but my brain still hurts. Wanna take a break and go spar?"

"Sure thing, let's go tell Mom and head to the training ground," replied Kurama.

* * *

><p>There was a knock at the door.<p>

"Who is it?" said Kushina in a sing-song voice. She made her way to the front door and opened it, revealing Sarutobi Hiruzen, the retired Sandaime Hokage.

"Sandaime-sama, what can I do for you?" questioned Kushina politely.

"Don't mind me, Kushina-chan, I'm just here to deliver a message," replied the aged Hokage.

"What it is? Does it have to do with Minato," asked Kushina curiously.

"Yes, yes it does. You see, Minato has left the village," stated Hiruzen.

"He left the village? What for?" asked Kushina with a concerned tone.

"I'm not sure, but he left a message for me saying that it was of utmost importance. Also, and this is an S-Ranked secret, but it has something to do with Uzumaki Choetsu, the Rikudou Hiraishin."

"You mean that man, from twelve years ago. The one who said he was my grandkid," asked Kushina incredulously.

"The very same, according to Minato's message; the Rikudou Hiraishin has returned, and whatever has prompted him to return is also the reason for Minato's departure."

"How long will he be gone?"

"It said a few days in the message; maybe a week at most. I will be taking over Minato's duties as Hokage again, for however long he is gone."

After passing on the message, the old professor gave a hearty farewell before leaving Kushina to herself.

"Hey, Mom!" yelled a voice from deeper into the house, "We're going to the training ground to spar, okay."

"Alright, be careful you two," was her answer. When she was finally alone in the house, Kushina said to herself, "How am I going to tell them that their father won't be there for graduation."

* * *

><p>Deep within the darkest corners of Konohagakure, an old man with an X-shaped scar on his chin and a bandaged eye and arm met with two masked shinobi.<p>

"What do you have to report to me, Fu," said the old man in an authoritative voice as he addressed his two most trusted subordinates.

"We've come across some interesting files pertaining to the Namikaze family which we would like to bring to your attention, Danzo-sama," said one of the masked nin.

"Oh ho, how intriguing; what did the files say?"

This time, it was Fu's partner Torune who responded, "According to the files, a collection of hospital records from before the Kyuubi attack, Namikaze-then-Uzumaki Kushina did not actually give birth to twins on that day. Also, all the birth records we found on Kurama Namikaze have been determined to be forged."

"Hmm, interesting; maybe the girl was adopted, or perhaps, it is something else entirely. Good work you two. You are both dismissed."

After the two Root agents disappeared with a flicker, Danzo muttered to himself, "Namikaze Kurama; who, or what exactly, are you really?"

TBC

A.N. Well, there you have it. Chapter 3, read and review people!


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Naruto is his own person and I don't support slavery so no, i do not own him.

Author's Note: My first written fight scenes, so please go easy on them. I know they aren't that great. Or maybe they are and I'm just too hard on myself.

And without further adeu...

Chapter 4: Holding Back

"Come at me with all you got, Naruto-nii," said Kurama confidently as she eased into a basic _taijutsu_ stance. Her blonde-haired brother did the same, albeit with a sloppier and less refined form.

"Don't hold back just 'cuz I'm the dead last, okay sis," replied Naruto.

"Why would I, unlike everyone else, I know you're just _faking_ it. By the way, that stance is horrible, stopped pretending because I know you can do better then that."

"But what if someone sees?"

"This is our private training ground, don't worry about it."

Reassured by his sister's words, Naruto quickly corrected his stance, matching and even surpassing Kurama's own form.

"Well then, let's begin," said Naruto before he rushed at his red-haired twin. Moving like a blur, the yellow haired boy flickered behind his sister and delivered a powerful right hand smash to her exposed backside, launching her far away. Naruto's triumph was short lived however, as Kurama's body disappeared in a puff of smoke and was replaced with a now-broken log.

"Pretty fast, but you'll have to try harder than that," said a voice from behind Naruto. "_Fire Release: Stream_!" A stream of fire capable of melting through solid rock was launched at Naruto, who used his speed and agility to just barely evade the fiery jutsu.

"Using _ninjutsu_ already, huh," Naruto commented before going through a sequence of hand seals. Building up wind chakra in his mouth, Naruto exclaimed, "_Wind Release: Stream_!"

A current of concussive wind was released from Naruto's mouth. Instead of aiming the technique for his sister's position like she had done to him with her _Katon_, Naruto choose to aim his _Fuuton _at the ground in front of him, kicking up a cloud of dust which obscured Kurama's vision.

Kurama prepared herself for the worst as three kunai flew at her from the dust cloud. The red-haired vixen ducked, causing the kunai to impact against two trees behind before the exploding tags attached to them detonated. The Hokage's daughter barely escaped the explosion by somersaulting forward above Naruto's dust cloud.

Unfortunately for her, this maneuver left her back vulnerable as Naruto quickly drop kicked her from behind. After regaining her footing, Kurama delivered a powerful kick aimed for Naruto's head. Naruto blocked the kick with both hands but it knocked him back, causing him to lose his balance.

Kurama quickly followed up with another Katon stream, which engulfed Naruto's form with reddish-orange flames. When the flames dispersed, Naruto was gone. The redhead looked around for her opponent but before she could find him, a black and orange blur elbow checked her into a training post.

'He's just as quick as usual. I can't afford to let my guard down,' thought Kurama in her head. The vixen went through another series of hand seals, but before she could complete the last tiger seal, Naruto jumped up and launched four _shuriken_ at her.

"_Shuriken Kage Bunshin_!" exclaimed Naruto as he transformed the four shuriken into forty. Kurama watched the shurikens approach her in slow motion as she prepped herself to evade the incoming barrage. Before she could do so, however, Naruto had completed another set of hand seals in midair at blinding speeds before he yelled, "_Wind Release: Gale Palm_!"

A gust of wind was released from Naruto's outstretched hand, which accelerated the velocity of each shadow shuriken. Without anytime to dodge, Kurama was forced to waste her jutsu to protect herself. "_Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet_!" said Kurama announcing one of her most powerful Katons. The flames released from her mouth intensified and form a dragon-like visage, which engulfed the shurikens and consumed the wind chakra propelling them.

The flaming dragon eventually converged on Naruto himself, becoming a blinding firestorm upon impact. Kurama panicked, not expecting Naruto to actually get hit and thinking that she had seriously injured her beloved brother. Her fears were eased however when the flames were suddenly dispersed by a blue whirlwind of chakra, revealing Naruto completely untouched with a sphere of spiraling energy in his right palm.

"_Rasengan_!" Naruto cried out before he slammed the ball of chakra into the ground in front of Kurama, kicking up a cloud of dust and rocks and leaving a large crater behind.

"You're out of chakra; if I wanted to kill you with this Rasengan, you wouldn't be able to do anything about it," stated Naruto matter-of-factly.

"I guess that means you win again," replied Kurama while shrugging her shoulders. "When did you learn Dad's Rasengan, though? That was really awesome."

"I taught it to myself with one of Dad's scrolls which he let me barrow. It took me a long time to master though, especially with just one hand," answered Naruto.

"What, are you serious!" exclaimed Kurama in response, "You learned that by yourself. I've had Dad helping me with that for months and I still haven't gotten past the first stage. For a dead last, you're pretty genius, nii-san."

"Just don't tell anyone that I know the Rasengan, okay."

"Of course not, I've kept all you're secrets so far. But why are you hiding you're skill so much; do you like being called a dead last?"

"You know that's not it," snapped Naruto with a huff, "Don't you remember what happened when we first enrolled in the academy."

"Oh that. Is that why you've been playing dumb all of these years? You still haven't gotten over that, huh, Naruto."

"…"

"You know," continued Kurama, "You're gonna have to stop hiding eventually. When we become _genin_ and start participating in missions, an enemy ninja isn't going to care whether you're faking it or not; he's just going to kill you."

"I know, when that time comes, I'll be ready," replied Naruto.

"I hope so little brother."

"Hey! I'm the older one!"

* * *

><p>Sarutobi Hiruzen pinched the bridge of his forehead for the umpteenth time as another argument sprung up between the village council members. The aged shinobi was already beginning to miss his retirement and having to participate in politics again was not helping at all.<p>

The worst part of it all was that the meeting had not even officially started yet. There were still several clan heads not present, without which many of the other members refused to begin. Of course, although the actual meeting could wait, apparently the yelling and arguing could not.

"Ehem," coughed Hiruzen in order to get the council's attention, "I think we've waited long enough, ladies and gentlemen, and I would really like it if we could get this meeting underway now."

"But Sandaime-sama," started Hyuuga Hiashi, head of the Hyuuga clan, "Yondaime-sama isn't even here yet."

"He's right!"

"Where's Minato-sama?"

"Why would we start if the Fourth isn't even here yet?"

"Calm down everyone!" ordered the Sandaime in a raised voice, "Minato is not here because he has left the village on very important and classified business. I am filling in for him as Hokage."

"Business; what kind of business, and why weren't we informed," protested one of the Hokage's advisors, Utatane Koharu.

"I'm afraid that only Minato and myself are privy to this information," Hiruzen replied, _'And Kushina too, but they don't have to know that_.'

"But the Shinobi Academy is hosting its graduation tomorrow!" voiced one Uchiha Fugaku, head of the prestigious clan of Sharingan-users, "The Hokage can't possibly miss that."

"Like I said, this is very important business, and I will be filling in for Minato anyways."

While the Sandaime continued answering the numerous questions being sent his way by the other council members, a certain old war hawk sat in his chair thinking, _'Namikaze Kurama; if ever there was an opportunity to unravel your secrets, now would be the perfect time_.'

Hours later, when the meeting had finally adjourned, Shimura Danzo arose from his seat and left the council building with a new plan in mind.

* * *

><p>"I'm going to become a ninja today for sure, <em>dattebayo<em>!" exclaimed an energetic Naruto as he raced through the streets of his father's village. The blonde-haired bundle of energy bumped into numerous bystanders on the way, eliciting a combination of annoyance and amusement from his "victims" and spectators respectively.

"Hey isn't that the Honorable Son?" whispered a stranger as Naruto zipped by.

"Yeah, that's Namikaze Naruto; I heard that he's suppose to be graduating from the Ninja Academy today," replied another stranger.

"Well, I heard that he's most likely gonna fail; they say he's one of the worst ninja ever."

"That's ironic considering who his dad is; maybe his genius sister stole all the talent."

The whisker face shinobi-hopeful merely ignored these comments and continued on his way to the academy, stopping for no one. By the time he got there, he found his redheaded sister already there leaning against a tree, waiting for him.

"Look's like I win the race again, nii-san," said Kurama playfully.

"Yeah, well, let's do that again when it's dark and nobody's watching and _then_ we'll see who wins," replied Naruto. The Hokage's daughter simply giggled in response.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Naruto. Anyways, why don't we go inside? I'm sure everyone's waiting for us, _dattebane_."

The two siblings ventured into the academy together, both excited at the prospect of becoming recognized adults in the eyes of the village. They found themselves walking down a long hallway to where their class would be. On the way there, however, Kurama encountered a tiny little problem.

"Hold on, Naruto," said the vixen while swaying back in forth, "I really, really have to pee all of sudden."

Naruto looked at her funny, "That's weird; you didn't have anything to drink today. Maybe you're just nervous."

"Doesn't matter; I can't hold it anymore!" After having said that, Kurama was gone so fast you would have thought she had spontaneously learned her father's _Hiraishin_.

* * *

><p>After relieving herself in the women's restroom, Kurama went to wash her hands. Looking at herself in the mirror, the crimson-haired soon-to-be-kunoichi found herself wondering why she could never see herself as her parent's child.<p>

It was a question she asked many times in her life, only becoming even more apparent as her body developed and she neared the pubescent stage. Kurama could never find an ounce of her mom and dad whenever she saw her image in the mirror, and that scared her.

Of course, anyone besides herself would think she was crazy; superficially, she looked like a _chibi_ version of her mother Kushina, with her blood red, shoulder-length hair, her cute, tomato-shaped face, and the dark, red, almost burgundy dress she wore which further accentuated her vibrant hair.

But to her, there was always something different about her; something deeper than the superficial. And that was unacceptable.

Suddenly, as Kurama reached for a paper towel to dry herself, a sharp pain welled up in her stomach region, causing her to double over in discomfort. Looking up, the redhead did not find the sapphire orbs which she had inherited from her father, but two irises of bloody scarlet centered on elongated, cat-like slits rather than normal pupils.

"This has been happening a lot lately," whispered Kurama to herself in concern, "Is there…something wrong with me?"

* * *

><p>"Listen up class," barked one of Iruka's teaching assistants, a man named Mizuki, "You're graduation exam to become genin will be composed of three parts; a written test, a taijutsu portion, and a ninjutsu demonstation."<p>

A series of collective groans resonated through the room in response to each part of the test, most of them coming from the mentioning of the written portion.

"We'll administer the written exam first, so everyone take their designated seats and wait for the test," announced Iruka himself.

After everyone received their test and answer papers, the written final began. Of course, as soon as he got the paper, Naruto put his stupid mask on and pretended that he didn't have any clue what he was doing.

The test itself proved to be fairly simple; it was mostly questions about basic shinobi terms and the history of the Five Great Shinobi Nations, as well as questions on what to do in certain predicaments that a ninja could find themselves in. Naruto was glad he had went over all of this with Kurama, as most of the answers came to him quickly, allowing him to finish before everyone except Haruno Sakura and his own sister.

To keep up his dunce act, however, Naruto decided to randomly yell out, "Damn it, I give up, I'm sick and tired of this stupid test!" as soon as he was done. This elicited looks from practically everyone else in the class; most of them were snickering or shaking their heads, while Iruka just looked at him with a disappointed expression on his face.

Afterwards, the dead last turned his test paper over and laid his head down, pretending to sleep. He was really just thinking though as he had a lot on his mind lately. Becoming a ninja for one; from now on, his life would be completely different. He also found it odd that his dad never came home yesterday, but it was understandable considering what his position was.

Then his thoughts started to wonder towards some of his classmates. First there was Uchiha Sasuke; Naruto's self-proclaimed rival who had embarrassed the blonde-haired boy in spars countless times during their academy years. Little did Sasuke know that all those times he had "bested" who he called a dobe were just acts to further cement Naruto's status as the dead last.

Other then that though, Naruto really had nothing against Sasuke; yeah, the sheer number of fangirls he had was annoying but Naruto had a few fangirls of his own on account of being the Hokage's far from ugly son, and although the Uchiha boy's arrogant attitude pissed Naruto off occasionally, he could tolerate it, especially since most of the instances in which Sasuke's arrogance truly showed actually benefitted Naruto's act.

Yes, Uchiha Sasuke wasn't all that bad in Naruto's mind; in fact, Sasuke and him had a few play dates when they were little due to their mothers being best friends or something, but that stopped after a time.

Next, there was Haruno Sakura, a girl with bubblegum pink hair who was also the smartest kid in class. To be honest, Naruto has somewhat of a crush on her; she was smart and beautiful. Unfortunately, Sakura was smitten with Sasuke and didn't really give Naruto the time of day.

Then there was Yamanaka Ino, whom Naruto didn't really know what to think about. For one thing, Ino was one of Naruto's few fangirls; all she cared about was his looks and the fact that he was a Namikaze and she didn't give a toad's ass that Naruto was the bottom of the class. For this reason, Naruto felt both flattered and repulsed at the same time. So in the end, his opinion on the platinum blonde was rather ambiguous.

Finally, there was Hyuuga Hinata; heir of the prestigious Hyuuga clan and resident class wall flower. She was extremely timid and lacked any form of self-confidence. Naruto wasn't really her friend, and he didn't recall ever having a long conversation with her in their entire time at the academy, but Hinata always intrigued him. She was mysterious in a way; a complete enigma to him, and he always wanted to know how she ticked inside. Plus, she was pretty cute to be honest, if a little weird.

Unfortunately, the timid girl always seemed to have a fever whenever she was around him, and Naruto was beginning to suspect that Hinata was allergic to him somehow.

"Stop, put your pencils down, and turn your test and answer sheets over," said Iruka after an alarm rang, "The written portion of the exam is now over."

After Iruka and his assistant Mizuki finished collecting the tests, the chunin instructors had the class follow them outdoors for the next stage of the exam.

It was time for a little taijutsu.

* * *

><p>Shimura Danzo patiently rummaged through the files his two loyal subordinates had discovered. They were all hospital records detailing the course of Namikaze-then-Uzumaki Kushina's ten month long pregnancy, and all of them told one story; that Kushina was only expecting one child.<p>

Of course, it was not uncommon that a mother could give birth to twins without expecting it, and you could never be sure with former jinchuurikis. If these hospital records had been the only dirt he was able to dig up, Danzo would have probably given up his search.

But it was to his luck that another file was found by his ROOT agents; a highly classified report written by Minato himself and addressed to the Sandaime. It detailed Kushina's labor, including the events that transpired during Kushina's post-birth kidnapping and the Kyuubi's release. Although the report was obviously missing an entire second half, any info related to Kushina's labor which was present in the report failed to mention a second child being born.

So where did Namikaze Kurama come from?

Danzo then turned to the post-birth records and certificates, and the old war hawk found that like his subordinates had said, all the documents pertaining to Kurama were forged.

Another layer to the manifold of enigmatic complexity that was the red-haired vixen was her chakra. Her very special chakra; it was a yellow, almost golden color and possessed a feel and a presence that was altogether different form any one else, almost as if it wasn't _human_. Many who knew this chalked it up to Kurama's relation to Kushina, who also possessed special chakra, but Kushina's chakra at least felt human.

As he pondered the subject, Danzo's mind began making the same conclusion over and over again. There was, without a doubt, only one possible explanation to the mystery of Kurama Namikaze.

"Fu, Torune," said Danzo, calling out to his two most trusted minions, "I believe we have a _jinchuuriki_ in our midst.

* * *

><p>Uchiha Sasuke smirked as his opponent for the taijutsu spar was chosen. It was the dead last prankster, Namikaze Naruto, son of the Yondaime Hokage. Despite his prestigious lineage, Naruto was a terrible ninja; he had never won a single spar in the academy, his accuracy was nonexistent, he was physically and conceptually incapable of being silent or sneaky, and he screwed up every <em>ninjutsu<em> he tried to perform in his entire life.

Sasuke had this fight in the bag.

Of course, the Uchiha wasn't planning on completely humiliating the blonde; besides his horrible skills and annoying antics, Sasuke could tolerate Naruto and he respected him for his unwavering determination. But most importantly, both Naruto and he were living in the shadows of two of the village's greatest shinobi; the Yondaime Hokage Namikaze Minato and ANBU Commander Uchiha Itachi. On that level, they could both relate to each other completely.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, that you have to fight me," spoke Sasuke condescendingly as he approached the Hokage's son, "If it had been anyone else, you might have been able to give a good enough showing to pass the _taijutsu_ exam."

"What are you talking about, Sasuke," replied Naruto, "I plan to win this fight."

The crowd of students who had gathered around them to watch the fight, a customary occurrence whenever Uchiha Sasuke sparred, all laughed out loud at the blonde's declaration. Naruto didn't give them a chance to make any biting comments, however, because he immediately went to rush his opponent before throwing a sloppy punch at his face. Sasuke ducked to avoid the incoming fist and then used a well-executed kick to trip Naruto and knock him off his feet, causing the prankster to fall face-first into the mud.

As more snickering erupted from the audience, Naruto arose from the ground and tried to punch Sasuke again, but this time the prodigy caught his fist and flipped the hapless blonde over, leaving him on the ground again.

In the crowd, Kurama was thinking, _'What are you doing Naruto, stop faking it. I thought you wanted to pass the exam_.'

The spar continued on like that for a while; Naruto would rush at Sasuke and try to hit him, but Sasuke would always evade or block the blow and then knock Naruto onto the ground. After a while, the audience became bored of the humiliating fight, and everyone was now waiting for Sasuke to finally end it.

Unable to take it any longer, Kurama yelled out, "Stop holding back, Naruto, and KICK! HIS! ASS!"

Turning towards the voice, Sasuke's eyes narrowed in cold fury. That voice was the voice which belonged to the person whom Sasuke hated the most; the only one in their entire class whom Sasuke could never beat, the only one who was always better then him.

Letting his stoic composure drop completely, Sasuke gave a little battle cry before charging at Naruto with all his speed. After gaining enough momentum, the Uchiha boy lifted off the ground and sent a flying drop kick at Naruto. The kick missed by barely an inch and collided with the person directly behind Naruto; his redheaded sister.

Not expected the kick, Kurama wasn't able to block or dodge in time and was sent careening through the air, before being knocked on to her back. The heavy kick caused a lot of pain for the red-haired vixen, causing her to give out a weak cough.

A few good Samaritans went to help the girl off the ground, while numerous fanboys of Kurama were glaring daggers at Sasuke, who was trying his best to look apologetic, but couldn't help but hide the smirk on his face.

The smirk was immediately wiped off his face, however, when the largest killer intent Sasuke had ever felt was directed right at him.

"Sasuke…" whispered Naruto in a chilling tone, "Did you just drop kick my sister?"

The Uchiha gulped noticeably before replying, "Y-yeah, what of it, dead last?"

"Nothing, just try not to blink." And with that, Naruto vanished in a flash of blonde-hair, before flickering in front of Sasuke and punching him hard in the gut. The blow was so hard that it knocked Sasuke a few feet off the ground, and while he was in midair Naruto delivered a powerful spinning kick to his jaw.

The ebony-haired boy was sent flying away in pain, while many in the audience gasped at Naruto's incredible display of speed. Sasuke quickly regained his balanced, but as soon as this happened Naruto charged at him again. This time Sasuke was able to react and jump over Naruto, but unfortunately for him, there was another flash of light and Naruto was once again positioned in front of him.

The next thing Sasuke knew was that he had been hit by another extremely forceful punch and sent flying almost 30 feet away into a tree. By the time he collided with the tree, the top-ranked boy in the class was already unconscious.

All of Naruto's classmates as well as his instructors looked on in complete amazement with their jaws hanging loose. The same thought was coursing through almost all of their heads; did the dead last Namikaze Naruto just defeat the elite Uchiha Sasuke with only two hits.

The only two who were not completely overwhelmed with surprise was a certain red-haired vixen and a pale, lavender eyed wall flower, who were both gushing in happiness at Naruto's victory.

Naruto, realizing what he had just done, turned back to the crowd and gave them a sheepish grin while scratching the back of his head, "Sorry, uhh, I get really worked up whenever my sister gets hurt, hehe."

Iruka just sighed before raising his voice and saying, "Well, it looks like we have a winner. Naruto…you are disqualified for using _Shunshin_ _no Jutsu_ during a taijutsu only match. Which means Uchiha Sasukeis the victor."

"What!"

TBC

A.N. As you can see, Naruto has been faking his lack of skills all of this time, and he and Kurama are actually far above the heads of their peers. In fact, I want to say that right now, both siblings are chunin level, since they both know powerful elemental jutsus and Naruto can use Shunshin no Jutsu. And you must be wondering what Danzo is planning, so stay tuned till next time! Read and review, people!


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: [Insert funny/elaborate/eccentric way of disclaiming ownership of Naruto here]

Author's Note: Just as clarification for everyone who was pissed that Sasuke won last chapter, it wasn't meant to be taken seriously. We all know who really won that fight.

Chapter 5: Apparently, Failure is an Option

"What the hell, Iruka-sensei!" raged Naruto at his teacher, "I totally kicked Sasuke's ass! He's fucking unconscious!"

As Naruto chewed out the scarred _chunin _instructor about the match, Naruto's classmates continued whispering to each other about the outcome. Many of them were still in disbelief at what happened. A few were even in denial; they thought they were stuck in some sort of _genjutsu_ and placed their hands together in a tiger seal in order to dispel it.

Meanwhile, the raven-haired Uchiha was just beginning to stir from his state of unconsciousness. As soon as he opened his eyes, Sasuke was greeted by the sight of his pink-haired fangirl.

"Are you okay, Sasuke-kun," asked Sakura with a concerned tone, "Don't worry; I know that you losing to Naruto must be some sort of fluke. That idiot must have cheated somehow!"

Sasuke's eyes widened in disbelief, "I…lost to _Naruto_!"

"Umm, yeah," was the cherry blossom girl's nervous reply. Uchiha Sasuke promptly fainted, once again joining the realm of unconsciousness.

Meanwhile, back with Naruto and Iruka, "Sorry, Naruto, but it's just a technicality. You really shouldn't worry about it too much…we all know in our hearts who really won the match. Besides, these _taijutsu_ spars aren't really about who wins or loses; they're about giving a good showing of your skills. And you definitely gave a good showing, Naruto. That was amazing. I had no idea that you had it in you."

Naruto gave another sheepish grin before saying, "Hehe, I didn't know I had it in me, either, Iruka-sensei."

"When did you learn _Shunshin no Jutsu_, by the way?"

"Huh?"

"I was just wondering when you learned the Body Flicker," repeated the chunin, "Most shinobi don't learn that technique until they're of chunin rank, and they usually don't have enough control over it to actually use it in a fight."

Naruto started sweating as his mind raced to find an excuse, "I, uhh, don't r-really know. I don't think I ever used this, uhh, Shunpo no Jutsu or whatever you called it before. "

"What? If that's the case, then how did you move so fast?"

"I was just really pissed that Sasuke hurt my sister and then all of sudden everything became a blur," lied Naruto, "My body was moving on its own and the next thing I knew, Sasuke was out cold."

_'The way he described it was almost like the activation of a hidden Kekkei Genkai. But I've never heard of a bloodline that allows someone to spontaneously use the shunshin without having learned it first_,' pondered Iruka in his head, _'If it was anyone else I would have called bullshit on their story, but he is the son of the Yellow Flash. That makes it at least somewhat plausible_.'

"That's odd, I've never really heard about anything quite like that," said Iruka out loud, "I'll have to look into it more, Naruto."

"Umm, sensei, do you mind not telling anyone about it yet. I'm kinda worried that there might be something wrong with me, and I don't want anyone to know just yet. Especially not my mom or dad," said Naruto with a pleading look on his face.

"Okay, I'll keep it a secret for now," replied Iruka with a sigh, "But I'm going to have to tell your father eventually. Besides, all your classmates saw it too, so I'm not the only one that you need to talk to about keeping this a secret."

"Oh them; I'm pretty sure I won't have to worry about any of my classmates spilling the beans," said Naruto whimsically as he looked on to the crowd of students who were all trying to dispel the genjutsu that they still believed they were trapped in.

* * *

><p>"Ladies and gentlemen; we've been waiting for this day for over nine years!" exclaimed the masked shinobi as he addressed his comrades, "Our original mission was supposed to occur nine years ago, but with the threat of the Yondaime Hokage, our leaders decided to delay it in favor of a better opportunity."<p>

"And now with the news of the Yondaime's departure from Konoha, that opportunity is here!" As the lead shinobi said this, he pumped his fist into the air, causing a rush of adrenaline to course through all of the other dozen or so ninja in the room with him. They all began chanting, pumping themselves up for the mission to come as their leader continued his empowering speech.

When he was done talking, the leader raised his fist into air once again and shouted to the heavens, "For the _Raikage_! For _Kumo_! We are shinobi of the Hidden Cloud, and this is our mission!"

* * *

><p>After the taijutsu spars were finished, the rest of the taijutsu portion of the exam consisted of target practice and physical examinations, all of which Kurama passed with flying colors. Naruto, on the other hand, was still trying to draw attention away from himself, especially after the showing he gave against Sasuke, so he only put in enough effort to barely pass with an average grade.<p>

Now all the students had been given a lunch break before the third and final part of the exam, the _ninjutsu_ portion, would begin. As usual, Naruto was eating with his friends Akimichi Chouji and Nara Shikamaru, as well as his sister Kurama. Sasuke usually ate with them too, but he seemed to be missing. Naruto figured that he was still sore about getting his ass whooped.

"So, Naruto," spoke Shikamaru, the class's resident lazy bum, "This is kind of a troublesome question, but, how the hell did you beat Sasuke earlier."

The pineapple-headed Nara boy was currently eating a lunch of mackerel and kelp, but had barely touched any of it as his lazy but analytical eyes bored into Naruto's own.

"Ehh, well, I actually have no clue," answered Naruto nervously while trying to avert his eyes. "My body sort of just…moved. It was really all a blur to me."

"It was all a blur to us too!" exclaimed Chouji enthusiastically, his mouth partially filled with a few bites of Korean barbeque, "You should have seen how fast you moved!"

"So you're saying that you're body just moved on its own, and that you have no idea how you beat Sasuke?" repeated Shikamaru in disbelief. Naruto muttered a yes while his sister nodded in agreement.

"Cut the crap," continued Shikamaru, "That story's full of holes."

'It's true!" interjected Kurama, "I know my brother the best out of everyone and I've never seen him do anything even remotely like that!"

Unconvinced, the lazy genius thought in his head, _'I honestly don't buy it; it's physically impossible for someone to just gain the ability to move like that all of a sudden. But it's too troublesome to pursue any further, so I think I'll just drop it_.'

"Fine, whatever," said Shikamaru out loud. Naruto, who had just finished his meal of instant ramen, decided to get up to throw it away. When his back was turned to Shikamaru, Naruto sighed in relief. Kurama, likewise got up and followed her blonde-haired brother.

After throwing the finished ramen cup into the trash, Naruto went to walk back to his table when he was suddenly pulled into a warm embrace by a pair of familiar arms.

"Thanks, nii-san," said Kurama affectionately, "For what you did earlier."

"What are you talking about, Kurama-chan?" asked Naruto as he returned the hug with equal affection.

"You blew your cover and kicked Sasuke's ass brutally all for me," replied Kurama, "You really know how to make a girl feel loved, even if it's your sister."

Naruto grinned sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head, "Well damn, you make it sound like I have a sister complex or something."

"You do! Come on, Naruto-nii, stop trying to hide it. Just face it, you can't resist me!" exclaimed Kurama in jest.

"S-s-shut up!"

"Oh, Naruto-kun!" shrieked an unmistakable voice from behind the siblings. Naruto promptly froze, still in his sister's embrace.

"Oh look, nii-san, it's your fan girl. I'll give you two some time alone then," said Kurama with a hint of mischief as she let go of Naruto and quickly fled the scene. Naruto glared at the retreating form of his sister but was stopped from yelling back at her when a pair of likewise familiar arms wrapped around his torso from behind.

"You were absolutely amazing back then, Naruto-kun," whispered Ino into his ear with a sultry tone, "I knew all along that you were so much better than that Sasuke, but no one believed me. Now no one can possible deny how incredible you are."

As she continued stroking Naruto's ego, her fingers likewise began stroking his clothed chest in a circular motion, causing the pre-pubescent boy's cheeks to redden.

"Listen, Ino," spoke Naruto, finally gaining the courage to use his voice, "We really need to talk about this. Will you-…"

"Yes, oh a hundred times yes!" squealed Ino in ecstasy, "Yes I will marry you, Naruto-kun! Even if it's too soon for us, even if my dad doesn't approve, I don't care! I want to be your wife!"

"W-w-w-what! M-marriage; I wasn't g-going to talk about that. That's crazy!"

"Ehh, you weren't!" exclaimed the platinum blonde in surprise, "W-well then, my mistake. I kind of got c-carried away, sorry."

"Uhh, it's totally fine, I guess," replied Naruto sheepishly, "But what I was gonna say was that, honestly, I'm not really all that…interested in a relationship with you. I mean; you're really pretty, I'm not going to lie."

_'He called me pretty_,' gushed Ino in lalaland.

"But I'm kind of interested in someone else," finished Naruto.

"It's Sakura, isn't it!" exclaimed Ino with an accusative finger pointed in Naruto's face.

"Umm, no, I mean yeah, I mean kinda…sorta," asserted Naruto weakly.

"I knew it!" squealed Ino once again, "Oh isn't this great! We have a love triangle going on! No wait, it's actually more of a love rectangle! Isn't that fabulous!"

"A love…rectangle," said Naruto, perplexed.

"Yes, a rectangle! I'm in love with you, you're in love with Sakura, she's in love with Sasuke, and Sasuke's in love with me!"

"Wait, since when was Sasuke-teme in love with you, or anyone for that matter," said Naruto, "I'm still pissed at him for drop kicking my sister."

"Well, I'm not exactly sure about Sasuke, but the rest was spot on right?"

"Umm, not really; I wouldn't exactly call what I feel for Sakura "love". It's more of an infatuation."

"Pff, infatuation insmashuation; when you're in love, you're in love. That's what I think."

"Uhh, that's great, I guess," said Naruto, "Well anyways; I really need to be going right about…now!"

And with that, the blonde-haired Namikaze vanished with a flicker, leaving a confused and irate Yamanaka behind.

* * *

><p>This was it; the third and final portion of the academy graduation exam was just about to begin. Almost every student was on edge, as the <em>ninjutsu<em> portion of the exam made up a majority of the final grade. In fact, not being able to perform even a single one of the required techniques was enough to fail a student.

The tension was so thick it could've been cut with a knife, as the aspiring shinobis waited in their classroom to be called to the testing room. While most of the students were anxiously fidgeting in their seats, there were a few exceptions to the norm. For example, one Nara Shikamaru was completely off in dream land, while his friend Akimichi Chouji was currently snacking on some potato chips with increased vigor.

A sharp sound resonated through the room as the door to the testing center opened with a loud creak, startling a few nervous students. Mizuki, the teaching assistant, was the one to emerge from the other room. It would appear that the final test was to be taken in reverse alphabetical order, as the first name Mizuki called out was Yamanaka Ino.

The platinum blonde hesitantly arose from her seat before making her way to the silver-haired chunin, all eyes on her. After entering the other room, the door shut behind her with a reverberating thump. A few minutes later, Ino emerged with a smile on her face and a new, shiny _hitae-ate_ in her hand.

The same process continued as each student was called up one by one in reverse alphabetical order. Some passed, exiting the room with positive expressions and their very own forehead protectors denoting them as newly christened shinobi of the Leaf, while others failed. These unlucky individuals left the room in various states of disappointment and distress.

As Kurama's turn drew near, the red-haired vixen started to feel a throbbing pain in her head. It was dull and weak at first, barely prompting any recognition from its victim, but over time it grew stronger, causing the Hokage's daughter to massage her temple.

"Namikaze Naruto," Mizuki called out as he emerged from the testing center for the umpteenth time, "It's your turn to take the ninjutsu test."

Naruto got up from his seat, and was about to head towards the doorway when his sister gave him a brief good luck, causing the blonde to notice the pained and tired expression visible on his sister's face.

"You okay, Kurama?" as Naruto in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine," replied the redhead, "Just a little headache. Now get along, you, and don't hold back!"

"Don't worry, I won't. Not this time."

* * *

><p>Walking into the testing room, Namikaze Naruto noticed two things. One, both of his chunin instructors were sitting at a desk at the front of the room. Two, on the desk were dozens of shinobi forehead protectors, all of them inscribed with the symbol of Konoha. Naruto made a silent promise to himself that one of those hitae-ate would become his.<p>

"Hello, there Naruto," greeted Iruka warmly, "For the final part of this exam, I want you to perform three jutsus that we've worked on at your time here at the academy; _Henge no Jutsu_, _Kawarimi no Jutsu, _and _Bunshin no Jutsu. _You must successfully perform all three techniques to pass this part of the exam; even if you only miss one, you will still fail. Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be!" exclaimed Naruto confidently as he performed the correct hand seals for the Transformation Technique, causing a cloud of ninja smoke to appear with a loud, popping noise. When the smoke cleared, it revealed an identical copy of the Yondaime Hokage.

"How do you like that, sensei," said the Yondaime look-alike in the raspy pre-teen voice of Namikaze Naruto.

"Excellent, Naruto!" congratulated Iruka, "That was perfect. Now I want you to swap yourself with a log using the Body Replacement Technique while I throw this book at you."

Iruka promptly took out a random hard-cover text book which he chucked at Naruto. The blonde-haired boy smirked before his body disappeared with a poof of smoke, revealing a perfectly chopped, wooden log in its place as the flying book impacted.

"Kawarimi no Jutsu, success!" declared Naruto, announcing his position to everyone present in the room. Iruka and Mizuki look towards the Hokage's son, who grinned back at them with a radiant smile.

"That was great!" praised Iruka again, "Now you only need to perform one more jutsu correctly and then you'll pass."

"All you need to do is create two copies of yourself with the Clone Technique, and then you're done," explained Mizuki.

"Piece of cake; I can do way more than just two clones," said Naruto arrogantly. The Namikaze completed the required set of hand seals for the technique before releasing a surge of chakra, causing a cloud of smoke to envelop the room. When the smoke cleared, there were over a dozen clones of Naruto standing around the original.

"And there you go; can I have my forehead protector now?"

"I'm sorry, Naruto," said Iruka, "We wanted you to make two clones and _only_ two, I'm sorry but you've failed the test."

"What the hell, Iruka-sensei! First Sasuke and now this! Do you not want me to pass or something?"

Suddenly, the scarred chunin instructor bursted into laughter, causing the other two present in the room to sweat drop; what exactly was so funny?

"Oh man, Naruto, the look on your face," said Iruka while wiping the tears from his eyes, "I was only joking. You passed!"

"Are you serious? That's awesome!" exclaimed Naruto while jumping up and down in pure joy, "I'm a ninja, now, _dattebayo_!"

The newly christened shinobi started to bounce around the room in a hyperactive manner, causing the two chunin to sweat drop at the boy's antics. Although amusing, the sheer excitement being showcased by the blonde-haired _genin_ was also heartwarming and almost contagious, as Iruka started to feel a little giddy himself.

"Hey, Naruto, are you forgetting something," said Iruka with a smirk as he held up a brand, new forehead protector in his right hand.

"That's my forehead protector? No way, it looks so cool! I can't believe I get to wear that!"

"Of course, you are a shinobi now, and shinobi wear these. So go ahead and try it on."

Iruka tossed the hitae-ate at Naruto, who promptly caught it. Taking the blue clothe, Naruto tied it around his forehead, but found to his disappointment that the headband made his hair spike up in an uncool fashion. Removing the forehead protector, Naruto took it and tied it around his right forearm.

"You want it around your arm?" asked Iruka, "Well, I guess its fine. There are plenty of ninja who don't wear there forehead protectors over their actual forehead. But I suggest that when you get in an actual combat situation that you use the hitae-ate for what it was meant to be used for."

"Sure thing, Iruka-sensei, I just think I look cooler with it tied around my forearm,"

"Sigh, kids these days; well anyways, congratulations again. Now get going, 'cuz your sister is next up for the test."

Listening to his teacher's command, Naruto enthusiastically exited the room with his new hitae-ate proudly displayed on his arm while humming to himself a highly audible and upbeat tune.

"Well that was unexpected," said Mizuki, breaking the silence that remained after the blonde-haired boy's departure, "I could have sworn that he was going to fail."

"Naruto's been full of suprises lately," replied Iruka, not noticing the dangerous undertones lurking beneath the friendly tone of his comrade's voice.

* * *

><p>The entire class waited through an eternity-like second of anticipation as the door to the testing room opened. Emerging from the door way was a blonde-haired, whisker-faced twelve-year old. Instead of having an expression of disappointment like so many in the class were expecting, the boy had a radiant smile that lit up his entire face. Many of the students likewise noticed the shiny, new hitae-ate wrapped around his forearm.<p>

"Hell yeah, that's my brother!" exclaimed Kurama in joy while jumping up from her seat. Most of the other students however were staring at the new graduate with expressions of utter surprise and shock written all over their faces.

One of the exceptions was an indigo-haired, shirking violet who was thinking, _'I'm so happy for you, Naruto-kun. I really hope I can be strong and pass like you, so we can be shinobi together_.'

As Naruto made his way up to where his sister, the red-haired vixen ignored the subtle pain still coursing through her head and rushed her brother, pulling him into a strong embrace.

"I'm so proud of you, nii-san," said Kurama, "Mom and dad are going to be so happy when they here about this."

"Hehe, thanks Kurama-chan," replied Naruto, "You should get going now, though. It's your turn to take the test."

"Of course, wish me luck!" And with that, the Hokage's daughter let go of her twin and made her way to the door.

As Naruto witnessed his sister disappear into the other room, he felt eyes boring into the back of the head. Turning around, he came face to face with none other than Uchiha Sasuke, who was giving him a menacing glare.

"Who are you, and what have you done with the dobe?" asked the raven-haired boy.

* * *

><p>Iruka smiled proudly as Kurama performed the Body Replacement Technique flawlessly. The vixen was his best student, having obtained a near perfect score on the written exam, the taijutsu exam, and now she was one jutsu away from passing the ninjutsu exam with flying colors.<p>

In his mind, Iruka believed that Kurama was a step above her peers; no one, not even his second best student, Uchiha Sasuke, had ever defeated her in a spar. She already had a grasped on nature transformation, being able to use _Katon_ ninjutsu at such an early age, and she easily surpassed Sasuke in that aspect despite the fact that his clan specialized in Fire Release.

"Fantastic job as usual, Kurama-chan," said Iruka out loud, "Now all you have to do is create two clones with Bunshin no Jutsu, and you passed the test. "

Kurama nodded before performing the requisite hand seals for the Clone Technique. When she completed the final seal, she released a surge of chakra in order to finish the jutsu.

But then something happened.

As Kurama was concentrating, the throbbing pain in her mind suddenly intensified, causing a sharp, stinging sensation to surge through her body. Then, in an instant, Kurama's mind flashed through a series of images. It was like her life was flashing before her very eyes, but none of the memories were ones she recognized.

The first thing she saw was an old man with horns wielding some sort of staff, then she saw a raven-haired man who reminded her of an older version of Sasuke who was glaring at her with demonic, crimson eyes. Next, she saw a man with long, brown hair who she recognized as the Shodai Hokage, and then a woman with the same colored hair as her but styled into two elegant buns. The woman had a diamond-like symbol etched on her forehead.

The image that followed that was of her mother as a young girl, staring straight at her with a determined expression on her face. After the images of people passed, Kurama witnessed images of great destruction. It was Konoha, her beloved village, filled with devastation. Buildings were torn apart and on fire, and dead bodies littered the ground everywhere looking very much like insignificant ants.

Finally, the last image Kurama saw was of a white cloaked man. The man had strange, concentric ringed eyes that were the same color as hers. He pointed at her, and then the flashback was over.

When Kurama returned to her normal state of consciousness, she was greeted by the shocked expressions of both of her teachers. Kurama looked back in puzzlement, wondering what it was that had surprised the two chunin so much. She looked down and found her answer.

It was a clone of her, lying sickly and half-dead on the floor with its tongue sticking out comically. Kurama's mouth gaped open in shock. She had practiced the Clone Technique countless times before, and it had never turned out like this. The red-haired vixen formed the hand seals for the technique again, and let loose a surge of chakra.

But instead of feeling like the controlled stream that she was used to, Kurama felt a massive, chaotic outburst of golden hued energy that was almost painfully expelled from her body. Another poof of smoke resulted from the surge, revealing five additional dead clones of her.

"Kurama-hime, I don't know how to say this, but, I can't pass you with this," said Iruka sadly, "I'm sorry but you failed."

Kurama's eyes widened as she weakly dropped to her knees. "N-no way; I passed everything else. I got almost every answer correct on the written test, I was undefeated in the spars, and I performed every other technique right in this test. But I can't pass because of one lousy clone! You can't be serious, Iruka-sensei!"

"I'm dead serious, Kurama. Rules are rules, and I'm afraid that I can't let you become a shinobi if you can't even make a single bunshin. You'll have to try again next year."

"Oh come on, Iruka, can't you cut her some slack. She passed the rest of the exam perfectly with higher scores than any other student, and we've _seen_ her make a clone before. Can't you just let this slide?" said Mizuki sympathetically, "And besides, what will her father think if we failed her on the premise of just one technique."

"You know I can't do that, Mizuki," replied Iruka, "And I know for a fact that Hokage-sama would be more upset with me if I sent his daughter into the world of shinobi unprepared. He'll understand."

Realizing that there was no convincing her sensei, Kurama got up from her knees and walked away with a sad slump in her posture. Iruka watched sadly as her retreating form opened the door and left the room, never noticing the sly smirk that appeared on his assistant's face.

TBC

A.N. Oh no, Kurama didn't pass, and what's wrong with her chakra? And who are these Kumo nin and what are they after. The plot thickens. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and please review!


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Naruto is public domain...right?

Author's Note: Not much to say right now, so without further adeu I present to you all...

Chapter 6: Rising Enmity

As the door opened with a creaking noise, all heads turned towards its direction expecting a triumphant redhead to emerge. Instead, the class's top-ranked student left the testing center with her head down and a desolate expression on her face. There was no forehead protector in sight.

In response to this, many in the class displayed various signs of complete and utter bewilderment, such as sharp gasps, dropping jaws, and bulging eyes. And of course, the one most surprised by this unfortunate event was Naruto himself, who was rendered completely speechless; never in million years could he have foreseen something like this happening to his sister.

Unable to take the bewildered stares any longer, Kurama fled the scene immediately while attempting to avert her gaze from any of her peers.

By the time Naruto or any of the other students had recovered from their stupor, the scarlet-haired vixen was gone. The blonde-haired Namikaze was just about to leave in search of his sister when a voice called out to him, breaking the insufferable silence.

"Hey dead last; what the hell did you do to Kurama-chan, you asshole!" exclaimed Inuzuka Kiba while pointing an accusative finger at the blonde.

"What are you saying, dog breath?" Naruto asked, clearly offended.

"I'm saying that you cheated and sabotaged Kurama-chan's exam somehow! It's the only way you could possibly pass and the only explanation for why she failed!"

"That's the most ridiculous idea I've ever heard! I would never do something like that to my sister!"

Despite Naruto's reply, many of his classmates were nodding and agreeing with Kiba's remark. Irritated by this, the Hokage's son was just about to clock the Inuzuka boy in his mug when Iruka's silver-haired assistant emerged from the other room and called up the next examinee.

* * *

><p>Namikaze Kurama sat alone on her favorite swing set while she watched her fellow classmates celebrate their recent graduation into ninja-hood. Kurama was still in shock at having failed the exam, but what puzzled and worried her most were the visions she had experienced during that fateful moment.<p>

Meanwhile, as his sister moped on the swing, Namikaze Naruto pushed his way through the thick crowd of rejoicing parents and students with a single goal in mind; to find his sister. The good feeling he had received from passing was immediately squashed less than ten minutes later when his twin had left the testing room with the saddest facial expression he had ever seen her with.

The whisker-faced boy was roused from his internal musings when another figure crashed into him. The other individual was unfortunately much lighter than him and knocked unceremoniously to the ground.

It was Hyuuga Hinata; the timid, indigo-haired class wall flower. She was sporting a new _hitae-ate_ around her neck, evidence that she had indeed passed the graduation exam and was now a full-fledged shinobi.

"Oh _kami_, Hinata, I'm so sorry," apologized Naruto profusely while he helped the madly blushing girl up from the ground, "I wasn't looking where I was going and I guess I bumped into you a little too hard. I'm really very sorry.

"I-it's o-okay, Nar-Naruto-kun, I wa-wasn't hurt, or a-anything," stuttered the Hyuuga heiress in response.

"I guess, but still, it was very rude of me to knock you over like that," replied Naruto sheepishly, "Oh! And I noticed that you got a headband, so that means you passed the exam as well. Congrats, Hinata, you really deserved it!"

"T-thank you, Naruto-kun," said Hinata while she poked her two index fingers together nervously, "I'm glad you p-passed too!"

"Yeah, I'm glad too, but I feel really bad that my sister didn't pass. By the way, have you seen her; I need to talk to her and get to the bottom of this mess. I have to find out how someone like her could possible fail the test."

"I-I think I saw K-Kurama-san over that wa-way; n-near the playground."

"Thanks a bunch, Hinata-chan, you're the best!" exclaimed Naruto before he ran off to find his sister.

Hinata just stood there after his departure with a massive blush on her face thinking, 'I can't believe it; he called me Hinata-_chan_.'

* * *

><p>"That look doesn't suit you, Kurama-hime," said a voice out of nowhere, startling the vixen from her melancholic thoughts. Looking up, the Hokage's daughter found herself face to face with a smiling Mizuki, Umino Iruka's silver-haired teaching assistant.<p>

"M-Mizuki-sensei, what are you doing here?" asked Kurama, puzzled.

"I needed to talk to you; I was shocked when Iruka didn't pass you," answered the _chunin_ instructor.

"Me too," replied Kurama with a downcast look, "How could Iruka-sensei do that to me? I was his best student, and I passed every other test we were given perfectly."

"Iruka is a very serious person. His parents died during the Kyuubi attack twelve years ago, and since then he has taken being a true shinobi to heart. But what none of you students know about him is that in the years after his parent's death, Iruka was an infamous prankster."

"N-No way; Iruka-sensei liked to prank people? I can't imagine someone strict like him doing that!"

"It's true, I was one of his best friends at the time, and even I wasn't off limits when it came to his pranking. I think that since you and your brother are both pranksters, he sees himself in you two. That's why he didn't want you to enter the world of shinobi unprepared."

"Is that why he failed me?" Kurama asked

"I believe it is," replied Mizuki, "But I still don't think it was right of him. Tell you what; if I could give you another chance to become a _genin_, would you take it, even if it was dangerous?"

"In a heartbeat, yes; I want, no I need to become a ninja! I have to make my parents proud of me! Please, Mizuki-sensei, tell me how I can graduate!"

"Excellent, Kurama-hime, I admire your drive. You'll make an excellent shinobi. Now then, just come along with me, and I'll tell you all about the alternate graduation exam to become a genin…" said Mizuki with a sly smirk on his face.

* * *

><p>The swing set was empty. There was no red-haired vixen in sight.<p>

"Damn it, I was too late! Kurama must have left before I got here!" raged Naruto in frustration. Squinting his eyes and scratching the back of his head, Naruto looked around trying to find any sign of where his sister could have gone. Before he could actually find any, the twelve year old was suddenly brought into a bone-crushing embrace from behind.

"Oh, Naruto, my baby; I'm soooooooo proud of you, _dattebane_!" exclaimed Namikaze Kushina while slipping back into her old verbal _tic_ due to excitement.

"K-Kaa-chan; when did you get here?" Naruto asked with his voice muffled by his mother's tummy being pressed into his face.

"Just now; did you really believe that I would miss my children's graduation ceremony? By the way, where is your sister? I want to congratulate her too!"

"Umm, about that, Mom," said Naruto nervously, "Kurama didn't pass the graduation exam."

"C-Come again," stuttered Kushina as her face took on the impression of a startled fish.

"Kurama failed the test," muttered Naruto with a downcast expression.

"How in the world did she not pass?" exclaimed the red-haired woman in anger as her crimson locks billowed outwards in the form of nine tails, "She was the best student in the class! I swear that I'm gonna get to the bottom of this! Where's Iruka?"

"Iruka-sensei should be over there in the crowd somewhere talking to the other parents, but shouldn't we be finding Kurama instead?"

"Wait, what do you mean by finding Kurama? Where did she go?"

"I don't know, Mom, after failing she just ran off, and I've been looking for her ever since," replied Naruto. Kushina rubbed her chin with her fingers, as if pondering some quandary.

"If your father were here we could easily find Kurama with one of his tracking techniques, but unfortunately he's out of the village."

"Wait, dad's not here?"

"Of course not silly; if your father was here he would be congratulating you too. He left last night on important business for the village. I'm sorry I didn't tell you two, but I didn't want you to worry about him with the big test today. "

"When will he get back?"

"Old man Sandaime told me that he would be gone for a few days at most, but he may be back sooner than that," answered Kushina.

Naruto gave his mother a sad look, and Kushina could tell just by looking that the words "I can't believe my own father missed my graduation ceremony" were written all over his face. Her only response was to pull her child into another warm embrace.

* * *

><p>Mizuki looked on as Kurama left to go complete the task he had given her. Under the guise of an alternate graduation exam, the silver-haired assistant had successfully tricked the vixen into stealing the Hokage's Forbidden Scroll.<p>

"Deceiving a twelve year old girl into doing your dirty work for you is not something I approve of, Mizuki-san," spoke a voice from behind Mizuki, startling the chunin, "Unless, of course, it is for the good of the village."

The voice obviously belonged to an aged man, a fact that Mizuki confirmed when he turned around and came face to face with Shimura Danzo, one of the village elders.

"D-Danzo-sama, I c-can explain! Thi-this is…" stuttered Mizuki before he was interrupted by the bandaged, old man.

"There is no need to explain yourself, Mizuki-san. Your actions benefit my agenda, and therefore they benefit the village as well," explained the elder.

"H-how so; I could have sworn that I was acting in my own interest here," replied Mizuki.

"You are acting in your own self-interest, but that doesn't mean that what you're doing isn't also benefiting others. You see, I have an interest in that girl you just deceived, and I would like to make a proposal for you."

Mizuki gave the man a smirk before replying, "I'm all ears, Danzo-sama."

* * *

><p>Naruto was roof-hopping at breakneck speeds, not caring in the slightest who saw him. After the graduation ceremony was over, he had asked Hinata very nicely to use her <em>Byakugan<em> to find Kurama. The moon-eyed girl was very eager to help. With her special vision, they were able to locate Kurama almost immediately.

After bidding goodbye to Hinata and thanking her for helping him, Naruto rushed off to find his sister. Ironically, it was Kurama who ended up finding him first.

"I was waiting for you, Naruto-nii. I need your help with something very important," said Kurama after locating her brother.

"Where'd you go, Kurama-chan? I was looking for you. And what happened back at the academy? How the hell did Iruka-sensei not pass you?"

Kurama gave her brother a melancholic look before saying, "Why don't I show you how I failed."

Performing a sequence of hand seals, the red-haired vixen released a stream of chaotic golden chakra, generating a loud poof of smoke. When it cleared, Kurama stood over a sickly looking clone of herself, which was lying prone on the ground.

"W-what is that?" asked Naruto, bewilderment written all over his face.

"That was _Bunshin no Jutsu_; I tried to make a clone during the _ninjutsu_ test, but this is what happened," said Kurama.

"B-but how, I've seen you make tons of clones before. This doesn't make any sense!"

"I think there's something wrong with me; my chakra is acting strange. Maybe that's why I can't make bunshins anymore."

"Have you tried any other jutsu yet," Naruto asked. Kurama shook her head negatively.

"Try a _katon_, see if that works," suggested the blonde Namikaze.

"I'll give it a shot," said Kurama hesitantly before going through another set of hand seals. Inhaling a great breath of air, the foxy redhead exclaimed, "_Katon: Endan_!"

Instead of shooting a controlled flame bomb like she normally did when performing this particular technique, a pyrotechnical explosion of heat and flame erupted from her lips, knocking the poor girl almost ten feet away. Realizing what happened, Naruto immediately went after his downed sister with a concerned look on his face.

After helping the redhead up on her feet, Naruto said sheepishly, "Maybe that wasn't such a good idea, hehe."

Kurama just glared at the blonde and said, "You think."

"So, if I were to make a guess, I would say that your chakra control has gone to shit. It would explain why you can't perform any ninjutsu anymore," said Naruto matter-of-factly.

'Yeah, that's what I think too," replied Kurama. "Listen, nii-san. I need to tell you something; something no one else can know. Could you keep a secret for me?"

"Of course; you keep my secrets for me all the time. Just fire away, sis!"

Sitting down, Kurama cleared her throat as if she was a storyteller getting ready to weave an epic tale of heroes and villains. Naruto promptly followed her example, sitting Indian style on the floor.

"Okay, so it all started twelve years ago, on October 10, when we were both born-…"

"Look Kurama-chan, I want to hear how you failed, not your life story! Could you fast forward a bit, more like a lot?"

"Fine, fine, it actually started today, just a few hours ago. Remember how I wasn't feeling well during the test?"

"Yeah, you said you had a tiny headache. I was worried about you but you said you were fine. Turns out that you weren't fine at all," replied Naruto.

"Well yeah, so anyways, by the time the third part of the exam began, my headache was pretty bad. But it hadn't affected my skill at all so far so I was confidant nothing would happen. But during the ninjutsu test, when Iruka-sensei told me to perform the Clone Technique, I did what he asked," continued Kurama.

"But then what happened?"

"Well, when I was right in the middle of creating a clone, my chakra suddenly went haywire, and I saw these weird images in my head. It was like my life was flashing before my eyes, but I didn't recognize any of the visions. Then when it ended, I was standing there with a sickly, retarded clone lying prone before me. I even tried again, and my chakra still wouldn't mold the way I wanted it too," finished the red-haired vixen.

"Then after that Iruka-sensei failed you; man, he sure is strict," said Naruto, "And those visions you had; are you sure they weren't memories that you lost because of amnesia or something?"

"I'm pretty sure. I don't think I've ever met the Shodai Hokage in my life, so I definitely would not have a memory of him, amnesia or not."

"Oh, well then; that's pretty weird. Man, I wish Dad were here. He would probably being able to answer all our questions and solve this mess," said Naruto with a sigh.

"Wait, what do you mean daddy isn't here?" asked Kurama, with a concerned look on her face.

"I talked to Mom after the graduation ceremony; apparently our old man left last night on some really important business," confirmed Naruto.

"So daddy wasn't even at your graduation? Wow, what a bummer, nii-san!"

"I know! I really wanted him to be there. He would have been so proud of me!"

Naruto was about to continue on, but then he noticed the cheerless appearance of his sister's face. The graduation exam was still a sore subject for her, and mentioning their dad was just too much. So Naruto promptly shut his trap.

There was a long, awkward silence between the two before Kurama spoke up, "I found another way to become genin, you know."

"R-Really, but how; the only way to become genin is to pass the test!"

"Mizuki-sensei talked to me after the test; turns out he was just as upset with Iruka-sensei failing me as I was. He told me about this alternate test that the instructors only give in special circumstances and that if I passed it I would become a ninja."

"Wow, that's awesome. Mizuki-sensei is a pretty cool guy," replied Naruto enthusiastically, "But what kind of test is it?"

"Well…it's kind of dangerous," answered Kurama while averting her eyes, "T-that's why they only give it for exceptional cases."

"Tell me what kind of test it is, Kurama-chan," said Naruto seriously.

"I have to steal the Shodai Hokage's Forbidden Scroll of Seals."

* * *

><p>Naruto couldn't believe he was doing this. When he woke up this morning, the blonde was planning on becoming a genin today, not a missing nin. And stealing something like the Forbidden Scroll was just the ticket to becoming the latter.<p>

But this was for his sister; he would do anything for Kurama. Even become a missing nin.

For once he was glad that his father wasn't here; if he was, stealing this scroll from the Hokage's Manor would be a lot harder. But today, Sandaime-_jiji_ was Hokage, and Naruto know exactly what strategy to use to get past him.

"_Oiroke no Jutsu_!" exclaimed Naruto as he transformed into a buxom blonde woman whose heavenly body was fully exposed with the exception of the wispy smoke clouds covering her erogenous zones. Naruto smirked as his jutsu caused the aged Hokage to fly away in a spurt of his own blood, knocking the poor old man unconscious.

After Naruto transformed back into his male form he said, "Oiroke no Jutsu, success, take that, jii-chan. Now I just have to take the scroll and hand it over to Kurama."

* * *

><p>Hinata couldn't help but walk faster when her Byakugan spotted the same three, suspicious individuals who had been stalking her ever since the graduation ceremony. At first, she chalked it up to coincidence, but now she could not deny that they were following her.<p>

They were dressed in mostly dark, civilian clothing, but Hinata could see that their chakra was too strong to be non-shinobi. Oh, how she wished she had taken bodyguards with her today like her father asked her to, but she really wanted to be able to train by herself. So now, not only was she alone, but her body was exceedingly sore due to the intense exercise she had put herself through.

Now she was just trying to get home as fast as possible before her three stalkers could catch up with her and do whatever it was that they planning to do with her.

It almost startled her to death when the three stalkers suddenly broke out into a run in her direction. Panicking, Hinata likewise broke into a faster pace than walking; forget getting home, now all she wanted to do was find another Konoha nin who could help her.

But no matter what route she took, or what shortcut she used, Hinata couldn't lose them. They were gaining fast. One of them was probably a sensor nin.

But hope was on the horizon. The village proper was fast approaching, and the indigo-haired girl was fairly confidant that she could reach it and get help before they caught up with her.

Hinata ran as fast as she could and focused all of her Byakugan's attention on the three people chasing her. This proved to a horrendous mistake however, when Hinata suddenly collided with another warm mass which had suddenly flickered in front of her, knocking her to the ground.

"Focusing all your attention on the people chasing you and not even looking forward; I didn't think you would actually fall for a trick like that. But then again, you're just a twelve year old girl, after all," said the tall, bulky man who she had run into. He was wearing the white _jonin _vest of Kumogakure no Sato.

The bottom half of his face was covered in a face mask that looked like the one that silver-haired, one-eyed jonin who she sometimes saw around the village wore. His eyes were covered in thick sunglasses, and the top of his head was bald. He wore the hitae-ate of Hidden Cloud with a white cloth band.

Letting her ninja instincts take over, Hinata reacted quickly and slammed her open palm against the man's chest. The Kumo jonin grunted in pain before his form exploded in an azure cacophony of dancing electricity. The electrical current engulfed Hinata, shocking her into a state of unconsciousness.

After the girl passed out on to the ground, the real jonin whose Lightning clone had just exploded in Hinata's face appeared. The large man grabbed the unconscious body of his target, before hefting her over his shoulder.

"I love _Raiton: Kage Bunshin_," said the Kumo nin to no one in particular before using a quick _shunshin_ to flee the scene.

* * *

><p>The two siblings met next to a particularly massive tree, about a few miles from the village proper, but still within the borders of Konoha itself. It was almost midnight, and the full moon shone high in the night sky with a ghastly silver radiance.<p>

"You don't know how grateful I am for this, nii-san," thanked Kurama, addressing her brother who had just handed her the thick scroll he had stolen from the Hokage Manor.

"We watch out for each other, remember Kurama. You can always count on me to be there for you," reassured Naruto, "By the way; now that you have the scroll, what are you supposed to do with it. Did Mizuki-sensei tell you?"

Kurama sat down in front of the large tree before unfurling the Forbidden Scroll dramatically. After sitting in awe at all the jutsus she spotted at first sight, Kurama looked at her brother and said, "All he told me was that I needed to learn one technique from this scroll and then I pass the test."

"That's it; seems kind of easy for an alternate graduation exam," Naruto commented.

"Well, if you factor in how the scroll needs to be stolen, which not everyone would be able to pull off, and the fact that everything in this scroll is a _kenjutsu_, it's probably a lot harder than the official test."

"That's true. Good luck with your test, sis."

"Thank you, Naruto. You should probably get out of here now; if they catch me, I don't want you implicated. You _henge_'d into me when you stole the scroll like I told you, right?"

"Of course, of course; I don't know what the point is though. I'm the only one in the world who knows the Sexy Technique, so even if I transformed my self into you, it wouldn't fool the old man."

"Still; it's better to be safe than sorry."

"I guess. I should probably head off now. Later, Kurama-chan; I'll give Mom our alibi when I get home," said Naruto in farewell before he vanished in a flicker of smoke.

* * *

><p>Umino Iruka lied down in his bed, pondering the events of the day. He had just precided over the graduation of another batch of students; students he had been teaching for over four years now. Thanks to the guidance of the academy, they were now ready to face the real world; the world of shinobi.<p>

Year in, and year out, this was always one of his favorite times. But this year, he didn't feel the same emotion of pride for his students that he felt in the previous years. No; now he only felt guilt. Guilt for failing his prized student, Namikaze Kurama; maybe he had been too strict with her, too technical.

"_Oh come on, Iruka, can't you cut her some slack. She passed the rest of the exam perfectly with higher scores than any other student, and we've _seen_ her make a clone before. Can't you just let this slide_?" he remembered Mizuki saying after he had failed Kurama. It still ate away at his conscience.

What hurt him the most, however, was not any kind of guilt that he felt over upsetting Kurama. No; what he felt most guilty about was the fact that Kurama was _Naruto_'s sister. And Iruka couldn't bear the fact that Naruto would hate him. He just couldn't bear it.

Truth be told, even though Kurama was his best student, Naruto was his favorite. Maybe it was because they could relate. He saw his younger self in Naruto; they were both seeking attention, just for different reasons. He had felt unloved and unwanted in a world without his parents. Naruto wanted badly to escape the shadow of the greatest man in village history.

But at the root of it all, they both just wanted some attention; a feeling of existing and mattering and having an identity to call their own. That's all.

* * *

><p>The first thing Hinata noticed when she came back to conscious awareness was that her body was completely numb, almost like she was paralyzed. She couldn't even move a single one of her fingers.<p>

The second thing she noticed was that she was being carried on the back of a highly muscular individual, probably a man, who was wearing shinobi clothing, including a jonin flak jacket.

Finally, after opening her eyes, she discovered that the jonin who was carrying her was apparently tree hopping at a fast pace through a familiar forest. Looking around, Hinata also found herself surrounded by seven other shinobi, all of them Kumo nins like her captor.

"Ah, I see you're finally awake, Hyuuga-hime," spoke the jonin carrying her. This had the effect of startling the timid girl. "Don't bother screaming for help because we're far out of hearing distance right now."

"W-who are you? And w-why ha-have you taken me away?" stuttered the heiress in absolute fear.

"Isn't it obvious, hime-san. The Hidden Cloud wants the Byakugan, and you were the easiest route to getting it. We were just waiting for the Yondaime Hokage to leave the village," explained the Kumo jonin, "But that's enough talking. Prisoners don't deserve an explanation."

Unbeknownst to them, a certain classmate of Hinata who had also been hopping through the forest that night just so happened to spot the squad of Cloud ninja.

'No way, is that Hinata?' thought Naruto, 'And why is she being dragged away by a bunch of Kumo nin?'

Alarmed by the situation, Namikaze Naruto made a complete U-turn and went chasing after the foreign shinobi at his fastest speed possible.

* * *

><p>On top of the Yondaime's statue at the Hokage Monument, a luminous flash of bright, yellow light spontaneously appeared, signaling an important arrival. When the light faded away, in its place were two, almost identical men. The only difference between the two was the color scheme of their otherwise identical clothing, their skin tone, and their eyes.<p>

"Well now; according to my amazing and completely infallible sense of all things temporal, it's only been about twenty four standard hours since we left. That's considered a single day on this planet," said the pale skinned one, clad in white and gold.

"Only a day; I thought you said the trip would take a few days or even a week," said the other.

"We got back early then," replied the first, "I was accounting for any spontaneous detours in my original estimate, anyways. Like say, a detour to the Shinigami's realm, or maybe a little chat with my old buddy, that Sage bastard."

Turning towards his companion, the second individual, wearing a white cloak patterned with red flames, gave the other man a serious look before speaking, "Thank you for what you showed me, Choetsu. This…completely changes everything."

"No need to thank me; changing the course of destiny for entire worlds is just Tuesday for a guy like me," he replied, "After all, I am the _Rikudou Hiraishin_."

TBC

A.N. And that's a rap. This chapter is all about the build up to my take on the events of Chapter 1 of the canon Naruto manga. I hope you all enjoyed, but if you didn't, well then, I apologize beforehand.

And as some of you may have noticed, I changed the way I write names from the Western first name first, last name last, to the Eastern surname first, given name last. There are two reasons for this. One, I wanted to be more accurate; since this is a fanfic of a Japanese manga, I should write names the way they are in Japan. And two; there is a plot relevant reason why I made the change, but you'll fugure that out later.

As of right now, the previous chapters haven't been amended to reflect this change, but I'll soon fix that over the next few days/weeks.


	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I own Naruto in an alternate timeline where Napoleon conqured Russia and pie was never invented. As for this dimension...well...you know.

Author's Note: I was late updating this time, so to compensate for it I have two, yes you heard me, two chapters for you folks this week, and both are extra long. These two chapters will bascially by telling my version of the Mizuki incident plus something extra. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 7: Mizuki's Revelation

There was a knock at the door.

With a groan of frustration, Umino Iruka arose from his bed and walked to the front door of his apartment. Opening it, the scarred _chunin_ came face to face with his best friend, Mizuki.

"What is it?" asked Iruka, noticing the urgent look on his friend's face.

"Hurry, we must go to Hokage-sama's place! Kurama has taken the Forbidden Scroll as a prank!

Shocked by Mizuki's declaration, Iruka was left completely speechless. After regaining his composure, the chunin instructor quickly looked for his chunin flak vest before putting it on and speeding out the door.

* * *

><p>In front of the Hokage's office, a group of Konoha shinobi had gathered. Their aged leader was at the center of this formation, addressing his subordinates with the charisma of a <em>kage<em>. But on the inside, Sarutobi Hiruzen was sweating bullets in concern over the daughter of his successor Minato.

Namikaze Kurama for some reason had decided to break into the Hokage Manor. She used her brother's orginal technique, the _Oiroke no Jutsu_, to knock him unconscious before taking the Forbidden Scroll. Although he didn't have proof, Hiruzen was sure that Naruto was also somehow involved in this, as they always worked together.

"Sandaime-sama, this has gone far enough!" said one of the Konoha nin, "They may be Yondaime-sama's children, but even they should not be able to get away with a prank like this."

"You're absolutely right," said the Sandaime, "That scroll was declared to be forbidden by the Shodai for a reason; if used in a certain way, it could cause incredible danger."

In the crowd, Iruka was starting to sweat. He had become extremely worried about what the Hokage and the other ninja would do about his student's action.

'Was Kurama driven to this by my failing of her,' thought Iruka, 'If only the Yondaime was here; he was always able to reign in their pranking habits.'

"It's been half a day since the scroll was taken," continued Hiruzen, "We must hurry and fine Kurama!"

At the behest of their commander, all of the ninja present gave a loud exclamation of, "Yes sir!" before jumping away with _Shunshin no Jutsu_.

When all of his subordinates were gone, the Sandaime wondered to himself, 'How am I going to tell Kushina about all this.'

* * *

><p>In a secluded area of the woods surrounding the village proper, Namikaze Kurama lay panting next to an abandoned shack. Covered in bruises and other signs of heavy physical activity, the red-haired vixen was holding onto the Forbidden Scroll with both arms wrapped around its diameter.<p>

Her dress was dirtied and tattered, and her crimson locks were in complete disarray. But the girl was sporting a radiant smile that would have had a significant majority of Konaha's pre-pubescent male population drooling.

All of a sudden, the redhead felt the appearance of another presence in the clearing, startling her. Looking up, Kurama found herself staring at the grinning face of her teacher, Umino Iruka.

"I've found you," said the scarred man. Eyes widening, the vixen's face took on an almost comical "deer in the headlights" look.

"I-Iruka-sensei, w-what are you doing here?"

"I WAS SENT HERE TO FIND YOU, IDIOT! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING, STEALING THE FORBIDDEN SCROLL LIKE THAT?" exclaimed the chunin instructor as his head transformed into a demonic rendition of himself.

"I wanted to learn a jutsu from the scroll! That way you could let me graduate!" declared Kurama, determination coursing though her voice, unfazed by her sensei's outburst.

This seemed to have the effect of both surprising and puzzling the scarred chunin, "What are you talking about, Kurama. You were my prize student; you have no reason to do something like this. This isn't like one of your harmless pranks; the Forbidden Scroll is dangerous!"

"Being your prize student didn't stop you from failing me for not being able to perform just one technique!" exclaimed Kurama.

Gritting his teeth in frustration, Iruka thought, 'So, it was my fault that she has been driven to this extent.'

Out loud he said, "Kurama, for what it's worth, I'm sorry for failing you. But I needed you to be prepared to be a _genin_. You're one of my students, and I never, ever send my students into the world unprepared."

"But you know I'm prepared! I passed the rest of the exam perfectly and you've seen me use _bunshins_ before!"

"Yes, but that was then. All that mattered was that, at the time of the exam, you weren't able to meet one of the requirements. Please understand me, Kurama-hime. I'm not doing this to be malicious! I want you to pass, but more than anything, I want you to be ready for the difficult job of being a ninja of the Hidden Leaf."

"Then I'll show you!" replied Kurama confidently, "I'll show you that I'm ready to graduate with this incredible new jutsu I've learned!"

Iruka's eyes widened, as he finally noticed the signs of intense training that spotted Kurama's body, 'Was she practicing here? Is that why she looks so beat up? Did Kurama really learn a technique from the Forbidden Scroll?'

"Kurama-hime, if I may ask," said Iruka out loud, "Who told you about that scroll?"

Kurama looked puzzled, "Huh, don't you know? Mizuki-sensei was the one who told me about it and about the alternate graduation exam too. He said that if I learned one skill from the scroll, you would definitely let me graduate!"

Umino Iruka gaped in shock at the revelation, "M-Mizuki, he was the one wh-…"

Suddenly, a barrage of _kunai_ was sent flying at the two from the depths of the woods. Acting quickly, Iruka pushed his red-haired student out of the way as the throwing knives pinned him to the wall of the abandoned shack.

Mizuki emerged from the darkness, standing on top of a tree branch with two large _shurikens _strapped to his back. "Good job finding Kurama-hime, Iruka!"

"I see, so that's what's going on here," muttered the scarred chunin under his breath. Numerous kunai knives were embedded in his body, leaving him bleeding out and stuck to the wall.

"Kurama, give me the scroll!" yelled the silver haired teaching assistant.

"Whatever happens, Kurama, don't give him the scroll!" countered Iruka, blood dripping from his mouth.

Looking back and forth between her two teachers in confusion, Kurama said, "Huh, what's going on here?"

"That scroll on your back is very dangerous; it has a bunch of forbidden _ninjutsu_ written inside of it. Mizuki used you to get his hands on it. There was never an alternate graduation exam!" explained Iruka, causing his prized student to gasp in shock before an expression of anger manifested on her face.

"Y-You bastard, Mizuki-sensei," growled Kurama, whose teeth were gritting in rage, "I trusted you!"

"Now, now, Kurama-hime, there's no point in you having the scroll anymore. Why don't you just hand it over to me, and I'll tell you a little secret," said Mizuki with a smug smirk on his face. 'A secret that I know thanks to Danzo-sama,' added Mizuki inside his head.

Iruka's eyebrows rose in confusion, 'What is Mizuki talking about?'

"You know about the Kyuubi attack twelve years ago, right, Kurama-hime; the same attack that took place on the day of your birth."

"Of course; my father killed the fox," replied Kurama.

"That's the official story, but what really happened that night is completely different," stated Mizuki cryptically.

"What are you talking about, Mizuki!" yelled Iruka; the Nine-Tails was still a sore subject for him, as his parents had both died during its rampage.

"You see, there is an S-Ranked secret pertaining to the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox that only a select few within the village are privy to. It was only through extenuating circumstances that I was able to learn about it," explained Mizuki, "And it has something to do with you, Kurama-hime."

"W-what, why me; what does this secret have to do with me? Tell me, you bastard!"

"It has everything to do with you! Do you know why?" continued Mizuki before pausing dramatically, "The truth is that the Kyuubi no Yoko was not killed by your father that night. Instead, he sealed it away using a forbidden technique. And guess what, or who, he sealed the fox in."

Suddenly, both Kurama and Iruka had an epiphany as they realized what Mizuki was getting at. At first Kurama didn't want to believe what she had just realized, but as the veil was lifted from her mind, everything started to fall into place. Her unusual, inhuman chakra, the visions she had experienced, and finally, her inability to see herself as her parent's child.

It all locked into place like pieces of a puzzle, and her world was now shattered forever.

As for Iruka, "What kind of bullshit are you trying to pull, Mizuki! Are you trying to say that Yondaime-sama sealed the Kyuubi into his own daughter?"

"Not exactly; according to my informant, Kurama-hime isn't even Hokage-sama's daughter," replied Mizuki.

Iruka's eyes widened for the umpteenth time that night, while Kurama showed no visible signs of surprise, having already come to that conclusion herself. It still broke her heart, however, to hear it confirmed for her verbally.

"All of the hospital records detailing Kurama's birth were forged, and the only authentic records solely mentioned Naruto being borne," explained Mizuki, "So in other words, Kurama-hime was probably some random orphan whom Yondaime-sama decided to use for the sealing and then adopted, most likely to control her, since most _jinchuurikis_ are related to the kage of their village in some way."

"Shut the hell up, Mizuki!" raged Iruka. But it was too late; Mizuki's revelations had become too much for Kurama to handle, and the red-haired vixen promptly fled the scene with tears in her eyes.

"Wait, Kurama!" yelled Iruka, trying to stop the girl form leaving.

"Hehehe, Kurama-hime isn't going to have a change of heart due to you, Iruka. I think she wants revenge now, and she'll use that scroll to get it," taunted Mizuki after dropping down from the tree he was in, "Didn't you see those eyes. They were the eyes of a true demon."

"Shut up! Kurama isn't like that!"

"Well, that doesn't really matter. I'm just going to kill her anyways and take the scroll myself! I'll take care of you later."

"Like hell you will!" countered Iruka, "The Yondaime will have your head for killing his daughter!"

"As if; the Yondaime isn't even here!" replied the silver-haired chunin, "And besides; does Yondaime-sama even give a flying fuck about that girl, his so called "daughter". She's not even his real kid; just some orphan he decided to the seal the fox in. The same fox that killed your parents, remember Iruka. You should hate her with every fiber of your being."

Mizuki promptly flickered away, leaving the bruised and bloodied academy instructor behind.

* * *

><p>"I've finally found her," declared Sarutobi Hiruzen as he gazed at Kurama's retreating form inside his crystal ball. <em>Tomegane no Jutsu<em>, or the Telescrope Technique,was quite a useful skill to have.

"It seems that Mizuki has told her about the Yondaime's secret," muttered the aged Hokage, "The situation has become worse than I expected. Kurama must be feeling terrible now; more than she has ever felt before."

'She may not be an ordinary jinchuuriki, being the Kyuubi itself in human form rather than a human with a bijuu sealed inside, but if there is the slightest chance that she could transform back into the demon fox…'

The Sandaime's thoughts were interrupted by a brief flash of yellow light which illuminated his office for an instant before fading away, revealing two familiar figures.

"Hello, Sandaime-sama, I've come to relieve you of your paper work."

Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Choetsu were back.

* * *

><p>Namikaze Naruto frowned morbidly as he counted the number of Kumo shinobi who were guarding the kidnapped Hyuuga heiress. There were a total of eight, and every one of them was at least chunin level. The leader was obviously a <em>jonin<em>.

In other words, the just recently graduated genin Naruto was way out of his league.

He needed to get help and fast, but if he left now, the Kumo nin might disappear and Hinata would be beyond saving. And he couldn't let that happened, not to a sweet girl like her.

The foreign entourage had set up a temporary camp in the woods, but they could tear it down and flee at a moment's notice without leaving any evidence behind. Naruto could not see Hinata at the moment, but he was pretty sure that the girl was tied up inside the leader's makeshift tent.

While the blonde-haired Namikaze tried to think of a plan, the bald-headed Cloud jonin emerged from his tent and barked orders to his subordinates. When they started tearing the camp down and packing their equipment away, Naruto knew that they would be leaving soon and that he had run out of time.

* * *

><p>"Umino Iruka" hopped through the forest at breakneck speeds as he searched for his red-haired student. Spotting a red blur in his peripheral vision, the chunin shifted his eyes in that direction.<p>

"I found her," said "Iruka" as he caught up to Kurama, who was carrying the Forbidden Scroll in her arms.

"Kurama-hime, hurry and give me the scroll! Mizuki is after you!"

The vixen's response was to jump and deliver a jaw-breaking right hook to her instructor's face, sending him tumbling back to Earth. The chunin slid almost ten feet before stopping, while Kurama landed perfectly on her feet.

"Why, Kurama-hime?" asked "Iruka" before he vanished in a poof of smoke, revealing Mizuki in his place, "How did you know I wasn't Iruka?"

"Hehehe," chuckled "Kurama" before she too vanished in a poof of smoke, revealing a bloodied Umino Iruka, "Maybe because I'm Iruka."

"I see…"

Unbeknownst to the two former friends, the real Kurama was currently hiding behind a tree stump, listening to their conversation, with the Forbidden Scroll held in her arms.

"I'm surprised that you would transform into the very thing that killed your parents," said Mizuki, "Why would you want to protect something like that."

"It doesn't matter; I won't hand the scroll over to you, Mizuki!"

"You're an idiot; Kurama and I are the same! If you learn the jutsus sealed in that scroll, than you can do whatever you want! Don't you think the Kyuubi would try to use the power of the scroll to destroy the village?"

"Yeah, I guess your right," muttered Iruka softly, "The Kyuubi would do that…"

'I knew it; even Iruka-sensei hates me now. I'm nothing but a demon to him,' thought Kurama as her heart shattered a little more. The vixen was on the verge of tears.

"But Kurama is different…" continued Iruka, "She is one of my prize students!"

Kurama's eyes widened as she listened to the rest of Iruka's speech.

"She might be the host of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, she might not even be Hokage-sama's real daughter, and she might be one of the worst troublemakers in village history, but that doesn't mean anything! She's still my student, she's still the sister of Namikaze Naruto, and she's still a member of the Hidden Leaf Village! I wouldn't be able to look Naruto in the eye if I let you take her from him."

Now Kurama was really crying, but the tears she had shed were tears of joy, rather than of anguish.

"She's Namikaze Kurama!" exclaimed Iruka as he finished his speech.

Mizuki grit his teeth in frustration as his plan backfired on him. It seemed that he wouldn't be able to convince Iruka in his favor; not after the speech he had just given.

"Well, whatever," said Mizuki before grabbing the giant shuriken on his back, "I said I would take care of you later, but I've changed my mind."

The silver-haired traitor suddenly rushed at his former friend with his shuriken spinning rapidly in hand while he screamed at the top of his lungs, "Hurry up and die!"

Fortunately, just as Mizuki was about to throw the gigantic weapon and impale Iruka fatally with it, a red blur jumped out of nowhere and slammed into Mizuki, kneeing him in his torso and launching him away. The traitorous chunin let go of the still spinning shuriken, which became embedded in a wooden branch.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned red blur slid to a halt, revealing Iruka's savior to be none other than Namikaze Kurama herself.

* * *

><p>"What do you mean they stole the Forbidden Scroll?" asked Namikaze Minato. The blonde-haired Hokage was currently standing in front of his predecessor's desk, with an air of apprehension permeating his presence. His time-displaced grandson was a ways away, leaning against the opposite wall with his arms crossed and his composure intact.<p>

"Earlier in the afternoon, your daughter Kurama broke into the Manor and took the Shodai's Forbidden Scroll of Seals, bypassing me in the process," explained the Professor.

"How exactly did she bypass you? I know you're old, no offense, and that you've been in retirement for twelve years, but how could an academy student, no matter how skilled, defeat you like that?" questioned Minato.

Hiruzen started to blush and sweat while Choetsu began to snigger in the background, which baffled Minato greatly.

"What's so funny, Choetsu?"

The _Rikudou Hiraishin_ ceased his laughter enough to explain, "Isn't it obvious, Minato-_jiji_; the only probable, logical explanation for the legendary "God of Shinobi" falling in combat before a twelve year old girl is through the use of a certain SSS-Ranked, highly forbidden, 100% one-hit kill super technique, the likes of which only the genius mind of my father, the future Rokudaime Hokage and savior of the world could ever possibly think of."

"And what jutsu exactly are you talking about? I've never heard of a SSS-Ranked technique?"

Choetsu gave another brief chuckle before teleporting next to his grandfather's side, leaning up against him, taking his ear, and finally whispering the words, "Oiroke no Jutsu."

Minato abruptly turned crimson, although whether he was blushing or simply red from anger was ambiguous.

"Are you telling me that the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, the longest reigning Hokage in village history, student of the Shodai and Nidaime Hokages, teacher of the _Densetsu no Sannin_, summoner of the Great Apes of the Suiren Caves, also known as the God of Shinobi and the Professor, as well as my own predecessor, was defeated by a perverted jutsu, nothing more than a childish prank," ranted Minato as Hiruzen continued to blush and perspire even more.

"In my defense," said Hiruzen while rubbing sweat from his forehead, "Jiraiya has been a great influence on me."

Minato sighed audibly before cupping his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Never mind that! Can somebody please explain to me why my daughter would steal the scroll in the first place? I know she and Naruto have pranked a lot of people in the past, but neither of them have done anything that would actually get them in serious trouble."

"I believe Mizuki is to blame for this crisis," stated Hiruzen.

"Mizuki, you mean the academy teaching assistant who was assigned to Umino Iruka; what does he have to do with this?" asked Minato.

"When Kurama failed her graduation exam, Mizuki most likely tricked her into thinking that stealing the Forbidden Scroll would allow her to pass an alternate graduation exam and become a genin," explained the Sandaime, "It was obviously a bid to get his hands on the scroll."

"That son of a bitch; if he so much as touches a single red lock of my daughter's hair, I'm going to eviscerate him myself, after I get Itachi to torture him with that special _genjutsu_ of his!" exclaimed Minato while he slammed his fist against the desk. This shocked Hiruzen, who was not used to seeing the normally calm and collected Namikaze in such a temper, "And what's this about Kurama failing her genin exam? She was Iruka's top student!"

"I'm afraid that when your daughter took the exam, she failed to meet one of the requirements for passing, which was to successfully create two _bunshins_. Iruka failed her on that account."

"That's ridiculous; I've seen her make clones before."

"I'm sorry, Minato-kun, but it is what it is. Iruka takes his job very seriously; he wouldn't let a student pass when they don't deserve it under any circumstances, even if they were related to you," replied Hiruzen, "If it makes you feel better, there is a possibility that Mizuki sabotaged Kurama's test in order to execute his plan. The flaw with this assumption is that it would have been a better idea for Mizuki to sabotage Naruto, who passed the exam, then Kurama, because Naruto failing would frankly have not surprised anyone," said Hiruzen.

Minato's eyes widened at the last part, "N-Naruto, he passed?"

"Yes, your son is a genin now. I'm sure you're very proud."

"You can't even being to imagine. This is absolutely wonderful! Naruto, I knew he would pass, I really believed in him! I'm so happy, yet…"

"You're worried about Kurama, aren't you?" asked Choetsu, re-entering the conversation.

"It just doesn't make any sense," replied Minato, "I'm going to get to the bottom of this. By the way; does Kushina know about this?"

The Sandaime gave a startled cough, as if he was choking before he managed to stammer out, "Well, you see, Minato-kun, I was planning to…"

The old man was interrupted, however, when the door to the office was violently kicked open. In walked an exceptionally furious Namikaze Kushina; veins were bulging in her temple, her crimson hair was waving around like nine demonic tails, and an awfully powerful killer intent was emanating from her very presence.

"What the hell is all this news about my daughter stealing the Forbidden Scroll, huh, old man!" Kushina shrieked in rage, "You had better explain to me what the fuck is going on, ASAP, or so help me; I'll castrate your shriveled, ancient, balls in front of the entire village, retired Hokage or not, _dattebane!_"

In her rage, it took the Yondaime's wife quite a while to notice the other individuals present in the room. When she finally did, her eyes widened, and the killer intent she had been radiating was dampened and replaced by a calmer, more mellowed aura of surprise.

"M-Minato, you're back," squeaked Kushina, gasping at the sight of her husband before she pointed a finger at the other man, Minato's almost identical twin, "And you! I know you; you're the…"

"Rikudou Hiraishin at your service, _baa-chan_, but you can call me Choetsu if you like."

"C-Choetsu, yes that was your name; what are you doing here?" questioned Kushina.

"I'm obviously here to start my own harem of ridiculously gorgeous kunoichi in Konoha, that way I can start spreading my divine Y chromosome to the world. Why else would I be here?" joked Choetsu, causing both Hiruzen and Minato to face palm.

The Rikudou Hiraishin suddenly found himself impaled by almost a dozen chakra chains, courtesy of his once-again murderous grandmother, whose massive killer intent had returned even stronger than before.

"Stop joking around, you moron! This is serious, 'ttebane!"

"Okay, okay, don't need to get all S & M with me, geez. Talk about kinky. I was just trying to lighten the mood, that's all."

"Apparently my daughter is a convict now; I don't care about the mood! I want answers!" raged Kushina before she removed the chakra chains and shifted her attention to her blonde husband, "And you Minato; we have a lot to talk about. I'm just going to assume that you know about the current situation with Kurama."

"You assumed correctly, Kushina-chan. I was just finished getting informed by Sandaime-sama here when you barged in," replied the Yondaime.

"Well good! Then could you please tell me what the hell is going on!"

"All I know," began Minato, "Is that Mizuki, one of the academy instructors, tricked Kurama into stealing the Forbidden Scroll by telling her that it was an alternate graduation exam to become a genin."

"And now Kurama is somewhere in the forest with the scroll, Iruka, and Mizuki," added Hiruzen, "And I have no clue where Naruto-kun is. I'm not even sure if he's involved in this whole mess, but it's more likely that he is."

"Naruto never came home tonight," stated Kushina, "I have no idea where he is either."

"I'll find Naruto, don't you worry," said Choetsu with a Cheshire grin, "And I suggest that Minato should go after Kurama. You have a tag on her, right?"

"Of course," replied Minato, "The necklace I gave her for her last birthday has my Hiraishin seal engraved on it."

"Well then that settles it!" exclaimed the Rikudou Hiraishin cheerfully.

"Hey, what about me?" Kushina butted in, "Take me with you!"

"It's too bad, Kushina-baa-chan, but you don't have any fancy teleporting powers like me and ji-chan. You'll just slow us down. But like I said, we'll have your kids back just in time for their almost guaranteed spanking!"

"I'm sorry, sweetheart, but he's right," affirmed Minato, "I'll make sure our children are safe and sound. You know can count on me."

"I know," replied Kushina, "It's just Mr. Self-Absorbed Crack Head that I have to worry about."

Choetsu just smiled back at her, shaking the insult off before vanishing in a yellow flash, followed shortly by another one heralding the departure of his grandfather.

With the two gone, Kushina was left alone with the old village leader. It didn't take long for an awkward silence to set in, filling the office with its stifling presence.

"So…" mumbled Kushina uncomfortably, "How's your retirement going."

"What do you think?" said the aged Hokage bitterly before gesturing to the massive amount of paperwork that was piling up on his desk.

* * *

><p>"You shouldn't have done that, hime-sama," said Mizuki menacingly as he got up off the ground.<p>

"Don't touch Iruka-sensei! Or I'll kill you!"

"Ahahaha, that's ridiculous. You're just an academy student, top of the class or not. You couldn't lay a finger on a chunin like me in a serious battle! I'll kill you in one shot!"

Kurama's wordless response was to perform a sequence of hand seals, ending in the sign of the tiger. Chaotic golden energy enveloped the girl as she inhaled a large breath of air. Exhaling loudly, Kurama released the breath and all of the Fire chakra gathered within.

"_Katon: Karyuu Endan _(Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet)!" exclaimed Kurama before a combustion of flames, heat, and crimson light erupted from her mouth, knocking Kurama off her feet and sending her careening into the nearest tree stump.

Struggling to maintain consciousness, the red-haired vixen could only wonder at why her jutsu had failed, 'My chakra…is still not responding right. It's like it has a will of its own. I can't control it anymore.'

Mizuki entered a fit of laughter after seeing what had transpired with Kurama's failed katon, "You dumb bitch! Did you really think that you could pull of a high-level Fire Release ninjutsu from the scroll? It just blew up in your face, giving me the perfect opportunity to kill you!"

'He thinks that was the jutsu I learned from the scroll.'

After regaining his composure, the silver-haired chunin grabbed the last giant shuriken on his back before hurling it at Kurama with all of his might. The throwing star seemed to spin in slow motion as it got closer and closer to Kurama, ready to end her life in an instant. Any moment now, the shuriken would cut through the vixen's skin like a knife through butter, spilling blood everywhere and causing for a split second searing, unimaginable pain before all feeling would be gone forever.

But that moment never came.

Instead, Iruka had jumped out in front of her; taking the giant shuriken to his back where the flak jacket was thickest. Despite this, the shuriken still managed to embed itself deep, spraying a copious amount of red blood.

Kurama looked on in shock realizing that her sensei had just risked his life to save her, while Mizuki viewed the scene with contempt as his attempted murder failed.

"Why…?" asked Kurama.

"Because, you could have been like me," grunted Iruka in pain, "After my parents died during the Kyuubi attack, there was no one to acknowledge me."

"I tried to act like an idiot in order to get people's attention. It was a painful, lonely existence, but it was better than being a non-person. You, Kurama, have never felt pain like what I felt. You have a wonderful family, with an amazing pair of parents and a loving brother. But take that away, and you would have been the same as me. That's why…I can't let Mizuki rip your happiness away from you!"

"And also," added Iruka, "If only I had done a better job, maybe this would never have happened."

"That's enough out of you Iruka!" butted in Mizuki rudely, before taking out a kunai, "I'm fresh out of shurikens for now, but that just means I'll kill you the old fashioned way."

As Mizuki approached the duo with a murderous glint in his eyes, Iruka flipped over and tried to get up, but the big weapon embedded in his back and the constant pain was proving to be too much of an obstacle. Luckily, before Mizuki could lunge and kill him, Kurama got up on her feet and placed herself in between the two teachers.

"Don't even think about it, Mizuki! I won't let you pass!"

"Didn't I already tell you? I'll kill you in one hit!"

Without saying a word, Kurama placed the index and middle fingers of her two hands in a cross-shaped position before releasing a humongous mass of golden chakra.

"Try it, you piece of trash! I'll return the pain a thousand times over!" exclaimed Kurama before she was enveloped by an expanding cloud of white smoke.

"_Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu _(Mass Shadow Clone Technique)!"

When the smoke cleared, the entire forest was filled with over one thousand Kurama shadow clones, all of them looking in Mizuki's direction with shit-eating grins on their faces.

* * *

><p>Naruto watched with rising apprehension as the last piece of Kumo equipment was packed away. With the makeshift camp torn down, it wouldn't be long, a couple minutes at the most, before the Cloud nin fled with their prisoner. Poor Hinata was bound, gagged, but not blindfolded, as that particular precaution was useless with Byakugan-users. The lead jonin was carrying her like a sack over his shoulder.<p>

It was now or never; Naruto had to stop them now.

Just as the blonde twelve-year old was about to charge forward out of his hiding spot in what would have been a suicidal move, Naruto was interrupted by the appearance of a hand on his shoulder and the words, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Startled but not giving away his position, Naruto turned around and came to face to face with his father.

Or who he thought was his father.

"T-tou-chan! W-what are you doing here? And when did you get back?" asked Naruto in utter confusion. The blonde-haired man who was the cause of his confusion just looked at him awkwardly for a long second before chuckling quietly with his eyes scrunched together in mirth.

"You've got the wrong blonde, kid. Look closer, concentrate," replied the Yondaime look-alike. Naruto did so while squinting, analyzing the man's features closely. After a couple seconds, the Namikaze's eyes widened before a look of epiphany appeared on his boyish face.

"You're not my father!" exclaimed the boy as if he had just solved the meaning of life.

"Ding, ding, ding, and we have a winner! May I now bestow upon you the prestigious and highly sought after title of Captain Obvious," replied the Minato clone comically.

"Shut up! Who the hell are you? And why do you look like my dad so much?"

"I'm Minato's brother, which makes me your uncle, I think. That's how it works in this dimension, right?"

"My dad never told me about having an uncle," said Naruto while his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "He said he was the only child of two civilian shopkeepers who died in the Second World War."

"I was gone for a long time on a secret S-Ranked mission. Since before you and Kurama were born in fact. That's why he never mentioned me," explained Naruto's "uncle", "You can call me the great Choetsu-sama, by the way!"

"I'll call you the lame Choetsu-teme, if that's what you mean," countered Naruto, "I'm not really convinced that you're my uncle just yet, but you look so much like Tou-chan that I'll just have to deal with you for now. Plus, I'm kind of in a bad spot at the moment, so I could use your help."

Choetsu looked onwards at the unit of foreign shinobi who were just on the verge of leaving before giving a low whistle and saying, "You're definitely right about that. Seven chunins and a jonin; what rank are you again?"

"Umm, I just graduated…" answered Naruto sheepishly.

"Yup, you're going to need all the help from me that you can get."

* * *

><p>Iruka looked on in complete awe and amazement as his prized student tied up the unconscious Mizuki. It didn't take long for Kurama's army of kage bunshins to beat the ever loving crap out of the silver-haired chunin, but in Iruka's opinion, it was one of the most brutal beat downs he had ever seen, and as a chunin he had seen a lot.<p>

For Kurama to learn a jonin-level technique like Kage Bunshin no Jutsu was stupendous, not even touching on the fact that she had taken it to a whole new level. Being able to make the sheer amount of clones which she had was a sign of monstrous chakra reserves.

If what Mizuki said about Kurama tonight was true, then that would explain everything.

"Kurama, come here," beckoned Iruka, "I have something to show you. But you have to close your eyes first."

Kurama did as was asked of her.

While her eyes were closed, the vixen felt something being wrapped around her forehead. Opening hey eyes, Kurama discovered that Iruka was no longer wearing his _hitae-ate_.

"Congratulations, Kurama-hime," said Iruka with an inflection of genuine pride in his voice, "You're now officially a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village! How about we celebrate with some ramen after this?"

Realizing what her teacher had done, Kurama's only response was to immediately jump for joy and tackle her sensei, pulling him into a heartwarming embrace.

"Silly Iruka-sensei," said Kurama with joyous tears running down her cheek, "Nii-san's the one who always loves going to Ichiraku's with you!"

"Yeah, but I figured that since you're his sister, you would enjoy it all the same, especially if we invite Naruto along too."

"Okay, but you're paying!"

Iruka was just about to give his student a witty response, when suddenly the expression on his face turned into one of complete seriousness and no emotion. Quickly taking out a kunai, the scarred-chunin instructor immediately tried to gut Kurama like a fish, showing absolutely no sign of hesistation. Caught of guard, the Hokage's daughter was unable to dodge in time.

There was a splash of blood…

TBC

A.N. And that's Chapter 7 for you. This is Part 1 of my two-part special this week. Chapter 8, the second part, will involve Naruto himself more heavily. Read and review, people!


	9. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Do I really need to tell you this? I don't own Naruto!

Author's Note: This is Part Two of my two chapter update this week, so don't forget to read Chapter 7 first...

Chapter 8: Minato's Revelation, and Two Flashes of Yellow

"Okay, so here's the plan," said Choetsu, beginning his explanation.

"Hey, how come you get to make the plan up? I was here first!" whined Naruto like the twelve year old that he was.

"It's all about seniority, genin-chan," mocked Choetsu. Naruto made a pouting face at his "uncle's" remark, "Oh don't give me that look. You are a genin, after all. And besides, I'm giving you a very important role in the plan."

"What do I have to do?" asked Naruto pensively.

"It's really simple, even someone of your intellectual capacity will be able to understand it," replied Choetsu, "Basically, I'm going to charge into the middle of their camp as a distraction for you. What most likely will happen is that the seven chunins will stay and fight me while the jonin leader escapes with the Hyuuga by himself."

"Lemme' guess, you want me to chase after the jonin when he does this?"

"No, we're just going to let him get away with his captive while you stay here picking your nose for the rest of the night."

"Really; that doesn't seem like much of a plan."

"Of course not really! When the jonin flees, you're going after him to rescue the lovely damsel in distress."

"Are you insane! I can't take on a jonin!"

Before Naruto could continue whining, Choetsu placed his hand on the boy's shoulder in a reassuring manner before giving him a radiant smile, "Don't sell yourself short, Naruto-chan. I have my utmost faith in you, and you should too. You don't want those big bad Cloud nin to take Hinata away, right?"

"Your right, Choetsu-teme! Just do your thing; I'll kick that bald jonin dude's ass and save Hinata!" declared Naruto with utmost determination.

'Good, 'cuz it's the father's job to save the mother,' thought Choetsu inside his head. 'I believe in you, tou-chan.'

"Well, it looks like it's my turn now."

* * *

><p>There was a splash of blood and a yellow flash as Namikaze Minato intercepted Iruka's kunai stab with his <em>Hiraishin no Jutsu<em>, grabbing the bladed weapon with his bare hands and stopping it from plunging into his daughter's abdomen.

Kurama simply gaped in shock at the sudden appearance of her father, "D-daddy is that you; when did you return to the village? And how did you reach me so fast!"

The Yondaime just looked back at her with a smirk before replying, "That necklace I gave you for your last birthday isn't just meant for looking pretty, you know."

Kurama stared down at her neck where the ruby pendant whose jeweled radiance matched the color of her fiery, crimson hair was located. "N-no way; that was the Hiraishin!"

Iruka, who was unable to break the grip that Minato had on his kunai, opted for letting go of the ninja tool and jumping away on to a tree branch.

Before Minato could blitz the chunin, Kurama wrapped her arms around his waist and yelled, "Stop, daddy! I don't think Iruka-sensei is himself right now! He wasn't acting like this earlier! Please don't kill him!"

Minato sighed before thinking, 'If that's the case, then there are only two possibilities I can think of to explain this. Either Iruka has been caught in some type of genjutsu that is compelling him to attack Kurama, or he's being mind controlled by a member of the Yamanaka clan. Since my Genjutsu Detection Seal would have informed me of any genjutsu, then that obviously means it's the latter option."

The possessed chunin suddenly began a series of hand seals in preparation of a jutsu. Unwilling to let him finish, the Yellow Flash of Konoha used a quick shunshin to flicker in front of Iruka before he slammed his opened palmed hand against the instructor's chest, placing a _fuinjutsu _seal in the process.

Suddenly, as the seal activated, Iruka's emotionless features shifted, turning into an expression of utter confusion and bewilderment.

"W-what, Yondaime-sama! What's g-going on here?"

"Relax, Umino Iruka; you've been possessed by the _Shintenshin no Jutsu _(Mind Body Switch Technique) of a Yamanaka. Whoever was controlling you forced your body to attack my daughter, but I stopped you and sealed the Yamanaka's consciousness away with my fuinjutsu. Now, explain to me all that happened tonight."

* * *

><p>"Well, it looks like it's my turn now," said Choetsu before vanishing in a yellow flash and reappearing in front of the Kumo entourage.<p>

Startled by the sudden appearance of a blonde-haired man looking very much like the Fourth Fire Shadow, the Kumo nin started to panic before their highly disciplined minds took over. The seven chunins quickly made a protective formation around their leader, who looked like he was about to flee at any moment. Hyuuga Hinata was still paralyzed, but she had witnessed the coming of her would-be-rescuer and began to give muffled sounds of hope from behind her gag.

"I-it's the _Ki-Kiiroi S-Senko_! We're all doomed," yelled one of the nameless fodder, "He's the s-same man who eliminated an army of ten thousand Iwa shinobi by himself in less than half an hour during the Third War!"

"Oh, grow a spine, Chuusei," scolded one of his companions, "I wouldn't care if this guy was the _Rikudou Sennin_, we still need to complete the mission, or die trying!"

Choetsu smirked and laughed inwardly at the Rikudou comment.

"He's right, men," barked the lead jonin, "Even against impossible odds, we must complete the mission! For the glory of Kumogakura no Sato, we cannot afford to give up!"

"Yes sir!" replied the jonin's right-hand man, a lanky chunin with spiky red hair and a crimson tattoo across his face, "We'll distract him while you escape with the Hyuuga!

"I hate to take such a cowardly option, but it's the only way this mission can still have a chance of success," said the Kumo jonin before he flickered away in the opposite direction.

'Good,' thought Choetsu as the seven chunin prepared themselves to face him, 'He's heading straight for my father.'

'I'm counting on you, Naruto.'

* * *

><p>"…and then Kurama used an army of Kage Bunshins to defeat Mizuki. He's still out cold and tied up next to that tree over there," finished Iruka, who had just explained everything to the Yondaime, "After that, I gave Kurama my hitae-ate and told her that she was now a shinobi of the village, but while we were celebrating I was apparently possessed by a Yamanaka and forced to attack her. That's when you showed up, Hokage-sama."<p>

"I see; thank you for telling me this, Iruka-san," replied the blonde Hokage, "Kurama, is everything that your sensei told me true?"

Minato's only daughter simply nodded in response.

"Well then," continued the Yondaime, "I guess I have a lot to explain to you. Do you think you could give us some privacy, Iruka?"

"Of c-course, Hokage-sama!" answered the chunin before leaving the scene via shunshin.

Minato beckoned his daughter to follow him before politely asking her to sit down in front of an ancient-looking tree. Minato himself opted for leaning against the tree as he prepared his explanation, waiting for his daughter's full attention.

"So I'm guessing that Mizuki told you about the Kyuubi attack and how it relates to you."

"Yeah," replied Kurama, "He told me that you sealed the Kyuubi inside of me when I was a baby. He also told me that I"m probably not even your real daughter; that I'm most likely just some random orphan whom you decided to use for the sealing."

As he listened to her words, Minato couldn't help but noticed the melancholic expression on his daughter's face, as well as the subtle tears forming in her eyes; seeing her like this shattered the blonde's heart into pieces. He knew what kind of pain that his Kurama must have faced when she learned the truth, and it killed him inside whenever he thought about how it was all _his_ fault.

"I'm sorry, Kurama, I'm so very sorry. But I couln't tell you, and neither could your mother. We were waiting for the opportune moment to let you know; we didn't want you to find out like this."

"I…I understand, father. It just…hurts so much learning that I'm the host of the most powerful demon in the world."

Minato winced inwardly, knowing that Kurama wasn't aware of the full story. He would have to shed light on the rest of her origins personally, therefore causing both of them even more pain. But it had to be done. No more procrastination. No more lies.

"Listen Kurama," continued Minato, "Mizuki didn't tell you the whole story. He was wrong about one thing."

"R-Really?" asked Kurama with a sliver of hope, "D-did he lie about me being an orphan; am I really your daughter?"

"I'm sorry, Kurama; it's not that," replied Minato, "I don't know how to break this to you, but please don't hate me for what I'm about to say. The truth is…you're not the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi."

"W-what!"

"You _are _the Kyuubi."

* * *

><p>"Before we get this show on the road," began Choetsu, "I just wanna ask; are any of you virgins?"<p>

The chunin he was addressing were all taken aback by the Yondaime look-alike's out of the blue comment. Many of them were sporting gaping mouths and comical sweat drops. One of them had the gall to face palm.

"W-what the hell does that have to do with anything, you blonde bastard!" exclaimed one of the Kumo shinobi after a moment of awkward silence.

"It has everything to do with everything!" replied the Rikudou Hiraishin with his arms outstretched like a lunatic, "I prefer not killing virgins. I mean, it just plains sucks to have to die before being able to experience the wonders of the opposite sex, in my opinion."

"B-b-but, you're the Yellow Flash!" raved one of the Kumo nin madly, "You killed over ten thousand shinobi from the Hidden Rock in one battle!"

"Obviously none of them were virgins," replied Choetsu with a scoff, "It was war time, for mine's sake! You guys should know how…frisky ninjas can get during a war, for lack of a better term. I mean, you're in a situation where you could possibly die at every encounter; might as well do it now before it's too late."

"He has a point there," whispered one of the Kumo nin to his companion, who simply nodded in agreement.

"Shut the hell up! Both of you!" barked the spiky red-head who was the Kumo jonin's right hand man, "He's just trying to mess with our focus. Ignore everything he's saying, and attack!"

The redhead immediately threw a kunai at Choetsu, who blocked it with an invisible wall of force. The exploding tag attached to the kunai promptly exploded, covering the blonde Rinnegan-user in a cloud of dust and smoke.

Taking out a _tanto_ blade, the chunin leader charged at the smoke cloud before swinging, dispersing the smoke and revealing Choetsu to be gone.

"Now, now, my dear Sekkachi-chan," said a voice from behind the spiky redhead, addressing him by his real name, "You shouldn't go charging in like that, especially considering whom you're facing. Or at least who you think you're facing."

Sekkachi's only response was to turn around and swing his tanto again. The blade would have sliced Choetsu's head clean off if he hadn't vanished once again before reappearing on top of a tree branch.

"Looks like you missed again; you're a pretty impatient guy, Sekkachi-chan," mocked Choetsu, "By the way, you're lovely wife is amazing in bed. What was her name again…"

"W-what the hell are you talking about! Are you insulting my wife!" exclaimed Sekkachi before charging at the blonde for the third time and jabbing at him with his tanto.

Choetsu casually blocked the jab and knocked the blade away with his index and middle fingers before replying, "No, I'm just implying that I had sex with your wife."

"Stop fucking with me, asshole!" raged Sekkachi before trying to kick Choetsu with his left leg, "Mizumi would never cheat on me!"

Unfortunately for the red-haired Kumo nin, his foot seemingly phased through Choetsu's body like he wasn't even there. The impatient chunin subsequently noticed a change in the blonde man's eyes when his failed attack passed through him.

They had gone from being sapphire, concentric ring-like circles surrounding a pure, white pupil to bloody, crimson irises containing a total of ten _tomoe_ revolving around a black pupil at different distances from the center, like planets orbiting around a star.

'His eyes,' Sekkachi thought inwardly, 'What are they? And why did they shift when I kicked him"

"I assure you that I'm being completely honest, Sekkachi-chan. And if you don't believe me, let me just remind you that the dragon tattoo on your wife's left breast is a darkish green color," stated Choetsu before punching him in the face with enough force to send him crashing into the ground.

While lying in the crater caused by his impact, Sekkachi thought, _'There's just no way; only I'm supposed to know about that tattoo! Did Mizumi really cheat on me, with the fucking Hoakge of all people_?'

"You'll pay for that, teme!" Screamed the cuckolded redhead as he got up from the ground and started forming hand seals.

"That's funny; I didn't have to pay for your wife's services, why should I pay you?" replied Choetsu wittily.

"Just shut up and die! _Raiton: Jibashi_ (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder)!" A surge of electricity burst from Sekkashi's fingers, traveling in a current towards its target, the Rikudou Hiraishin.

Not even batting an eye, Choetsu offhandedly caught the arc of lightning with his left palm, before using his superior mastery of nature transformation to flow the electrical current through his body and out his right hand palm. The redirected and now amplified attack violently zapped Sekkachi, killing the Kumo nin instantly and blowing him away.

'Oh, what a disappointment,' mused Choetsu in his mind, 'I was having so much fun toying with him too. Maybe I should have held back more.'

Shifting his attention to the remaining Kumo nin, Choetsu found that they were all glaring at him with a mixture of enmity and trepidation. All of them had various weapons out and ready, and some were gathering their chakra and preparing jutsus to be used. The Rikudou Hiraishin was outnumbered six to one with absolutely no backup or hope of reinforcement. It couldn't be any less fair…for the Hidden Cloud that is.

"Let me ask again; are any of you virgins?"

Without even bothering to respond, all six Cloud shinobi had sprung into action as they went charging towards Choetsu and their inevitable deaths.

"I'll take that as a no, then."

* * *

><p>"You <em>are <em>the Kyuubi."

Four words, six sylabbles, and one sentence; that's all it took for Namikaze Kurama's heart, her soul, and her entire world to once again become irrevocably crushed and utterly devastated. This new revelation did not bring about unending tears or sharp gasps, but instead left the red-haired vixen in a state of silent shock and ice-cold despair.

She was speechless and numb all at the same time. It was at such a level that the girl didn't even respond when her father pulled her into a powerful embrace as he caressed her back lovingly with his strong hands.

Not one bit of this was registered in her mind. All Kurama could hear in her mind was the words,"You are the Kyuubi," over and over again until she snapped, pushing her father away violently and running as fast as she could.

Minato simply watched as the retreating form of his daughter grew further and further away, cursing himself inwardly, but knowing deep down that telling her the blunt truth was absolutely necessary. Now the best thing for him to do was to give Kurama some time to be alone.

And if she got herself into any danger; well, there was always the Hiraishin tag engraved on her necklace.

Unbeknownst to the Hokage, a man with unruly black hair who was wearing a black, high collared outfit with a red sash around his waist and a strange, black mask that covered everything but his mouth was trailing the redhead in the shadows.

After catching up with the girl, the enigmatic shinobi removed the gloves covering his hands and watched as the exposed skin began to shift, becoming a deep purple color before his very eyes.

"For Danzo-sama," whispered the man under his breath before proceeding with his mission.

* * *

><p>The bald-headed Kumo jonin was jumping from tree to tree with the Hyuuga heiress slung on his back when a black-and-orange blur suddenly intercepted him, jamming a kunai straight through his heart. The swift and agile twelve year old who had done so was smirking in triumph, but his victory was short-lived when the jonin's body and the body of his prisoner flickered with electricity and exploded, releasing a surge of lightning chakra.<p>

When the blinding flash faded away, Naruto was suspended in mid-air with his body enveloped in deadly, shocking electricity before he vanished in a puff of smoke and was replaced with a newly-charred wooden log.

Before the log even hit the ground, two blurs flickered onto the scene; one was Naruto, and the other was the real Cloud jonin, with paralysed Hinata still slung on his back.

"You fell for my _Raiton: Kage Bunshin_ (Lightning Release: Shadow Clone), kid. Just like the princess I hold captive," said the jonin, "Unlike her though, you were able to escape without harm. Pretty impressive; what's your rank?"

"I just graduated," replied Naruto bluntly.

"Are you serious? No rookie genin could perform the Replacement Technique that fast!"

"Well, I'm not your typical genin."

The sunglass wearing Kumo nin smirked underneath his black facemask before responding, "Well of course not, you are the Yondaime's son, after all. Isn't that right, Namikaze Naruto?"

"How do you know who I am?" inquired Naruto, alarmed that his identity was revealed so quickly.

"Oh please, your striking resemblance to the Fourth is practically a dead give away," explained the jonin, "Plus, I have the advantage of being very familiar with you."

"Familiar with me; what the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm hurt that you don't recognize me," said the jonin with mock disappointment, "Maybe I should jog your memory for you." The man proceeded to remove both his sunglasses as well as the mask covering his lower face, revealing hardened brown eyes and a bearded chin.

"Wait, you look…kind of familiar. Where have I seen you before?"

"My name is Ruido, and I was once a chunin of the Hidden Leaf, before a certain incident, five years ago, which made me into a missing-nin."

"An incident; but five years ago, the only major event that happened in Konoha was…w-wait, no way! You ca-can't possibly be…"

"Yes, I'm the same man who kidnapped you when you were about seven years old. It was me and my partner, Asuza," explained Ruido.

"Y-you…you…you bastard; I was your hostage for three days while you used me as a weapon against my own father! Because of you, I went through a paranoid phase after the kidnapping when I was scared of almost everything, which prevented me from joining the academy at an earlier age," said Naruto, his voice filled with a burning fury, "If it weren't for that I could have graduated a long time ago!"

"Do you honestly think I care? Azusa and I would have succeeded in our plot if your Kami-damned godfather, Jiraiya of the Sannin, hadn't rescued you in time and killed my partner," said Ruido, "I was barely able to escape with my life, and then I ended up on the run from Konoha ANBU for nearly two years until I ended up in Kumo. In exchange for some info on the Leaf, they gave me the rank of jonin, something I was never able to achieve in this forsaken place."

"That's enough! I think I'm done talking to you," said Naruto as he started forming hand seals and molding his chakra. In response, the Kumo jonin likewise began his own sequence of seals one-handed, whilst gathering a tremendous amount of _Raiton _chakra.

'He's using half-seals; this guy really is jonin level," mused Naruto inwardly.

"_Raiton: Raigeki_ (Lightning Release: Lightning Strike)!" exclaimed Ruido before firing a humongous bolt of electricity from his left index and middle fingers in Naruto's direction.

"_Fuuton: Shinkujinheki_ (Wind Release: Vacuum Encampment Wall)!" exclaimed Naruto while exhaling a stream of wind chakra from his mouth. The exhaled wind forms a defensive wall of compressed air, which blocks Ruido's lightning strike.

'Damn, that technique is powerful; it's able to match my vacuum wall despite me having the elemental advantage,' commented Naruto within his thoughts. When the two jutsus finally dispersed, Naruto immediately took out another kunai and threw it at Ruido with great force.

Ruido's underhanded counter was to position the still paralyzed Hinata in between himself and the thrown kunai. Panicking, Naruto used a shunshin to reach the kunai and catch it in midair before it could pierce the jonin's human shield.

"You fool, do you seriously think that I would place the _real _Hyuuga in harms' way," taunted Ruido before throwing "Hinata's" body at Naruto. The twelve-year old caught her reflexively, dropping his kunai in the process, before her body exploded in a flare of sparks. She was nothing but a transformed Raiton bunshin.

This time, Naruto was hit by the full force of the lightning shadow clone; it was only through sheer force of will that he wasn't knocked unconscious. Instead, he lied in a smoking pile on the ground, unable to move. He could hear and feel Ruido's footsteps as he approached his position.

"It's such a shame," began Ruido as he slowly walked towards the downed genin, "I could have captured you as well and elicited a pretty hefty bounty for the Hokage's son. But unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to carry you and the Hyuuga at the same time by myself. So I'll just have to kill you, then."

Unwilling to allow the man carry out his threat, Naruto quickly formed a half-tiger seal with his right hand, detonating the exploding tag which was attached to the kunai he had dropped. It exploded right behind Ruido, peppering him with smoke and shrapnel. In the chaos of the blast, Naruto got up and flickered away.

"That should have distracted him for a few good seconds," muttered Naruto to himself, "Now I need to go find the real Hinata."

* * *

><p>Choetsu gazed around at the assortment of still-warm bodies strewn across the forest floor, disappointed that the fight had ended so…abruptly.<p>

"Well, I didn't mean to win this quickly," stated Choetsu sheepishly while he rubbed the back of his head in a familiar manner, "I guess I might just be too strong."

All of a sudden, a gigantic _Fuma _shuriken came flying out of the blue, heading straight towards the Rikudou. Without even bothering to turn around, Choetsu stopped the Fuma shuriken with an invisible wall of force, suspending the shuriken in midair before the entire shuriken crumbled to metallic dust in an instant.

"When will you guys ever learn," said Choetsu before teleporting behind the Kumo nin who had thrown the giant shuriken at him. The only remaining Cloud shinobi didn't even have time to react before the Rikudou Hiraishin placed a cursed seal on the hapless chunin's back using the palm of his right hand.

"You're a virgin, so I'd rather not kill you if I don't have to," whispered Choetsu into the man's ear before activating the _juinjutsu_ he had placed, paralyzing the Kumo shinobi, "But this should keep you out of trouble while I'm away. Now be a good boy and wait for those nice Konoha shinobi to find you so they can begin the interrogations."

Unable to move, the unfortunate Cloud ninja could only whimper in response.

"Oh, and by the way, I hope you went to the bathroom already, 'cuz you might be here for awhile," added Choetsu before vanishing in a yellow flash.

* * *

><p>After a long search that was further complicated by the fact that he was also trying to evade Ruido's pursuit at the same time, Naruto eventually found her tied to a tree. It smelled like an ambush, but the blonde genin had no choice but to check it out.<p>

When he had jumped down in front of the moon-eyed princess, it startled her immensely. When Naruto began his attempt to free her from her bonds, the indigo-haired girl started giving him cries of warning that were muffled by the gag on her mouth. It was enough, however, to successfully alert Naruto, who immediately spun around and deflected the incoming shuriken with one of his kunai.

"I'm impressed that you managed to find her," began Ruido from the tree branch he was standing on, "But I'm afraid you're too late."

"It's never too late," declared Naruto with resolve, "I'm going to stop you, Ruido-teme, with my most powerful ninjutsu." As Naruto said this, a gradually expanding sphere of azure chakra began swirling in his right palm. As the sphere grew larger, it became more chaotic and unstable, but Naruto added his left-hand to stabilize the rotation. After a few more seconds, the fully formed _Rasengan_ was ready to use.

"T-This can't be," panicked Ruido, as he began to sweat visibly, "Th-that technique; it's the legendary…"

"Rasengan!" exclaimed Naruto before jumping and charging at the Kumo jonin. Hinata, the captive bystander, looked on with hopeful anticipation as the spiraling sphere got within an inch of her kidnapper's torso.

Unfortunately, her hope promptly deflated when the jonin sidestepped the attack. Ruido immediately grabbed Naruto by the wrist and spun him around rapidly before throwing him down to earth with enormous power. Naruto slammed into the ground like a meteor before his Rasengan detonated, causing a massive explosion and leaving behind a large crater.

Satisfied with his handiwork, Ruido jumped back down in front of the Hyuuga heiress. After quickly untying her bonds, the Kumo jonin hefted her up and slung her on his back again. Before he could take off, however, he noticed that Naruto was still alive and had climbed out the crater.

"You just don't know when to stay down, do you?"

"Heh, you're actually right about something for once," replied Naruto, who was covered in bruises from head to toe, "I'm not dying until Hinata's safe and sound."

Hearing Naruto's determination caused Hinata to tear up, touched by her crush's resolve, while her captor simply shrugged and said, "I'd very much like to prove you wrong."

He started forming more half-seals with his only free hand, the left one, before electricity began crackling around it. The Kumo nin charged abruptly, faster than the eye could track, before violently grabbing Naruto by the throat, causing the blonde genin to cough in excruciating pain as the lightning chakra began electrocuting him.

"This is my _Lightning Release: A Slow Choking Death_ technique," stated Ruido, "You've been an incredible nuisance to me, so I'll make sure your death is slow and painful."

Unable to breath and slowly being fried to death, Naruto writhed in complete agony while Hinata could only watch in utter helplessness as tears ran down her cheek. More than ever, the timid heiress wished she could move just a little bit; it broke her heart seeing the boy she loved in so much pain and being unable to do a single thing about it.

"What a disappointment; I expected better from the Yondaime's son."

Naruto response was to spit in his face and through gritted teeth he said, "Go…to…hell…asshole."

"So you still have enough strength to talk, eh? Well I guess that means I've been far too lenient with you!" exclaimed Ruido before he increased the amount of Raiton chakra coursing through his hand and into Naruto's body. The twelve-year old's shrieks increased in proportion.

Naruto's life started to flash before his eyes just like they did in a cliché storybook. The pain began to fade away, only to be replaced by a chilling numbness and a feeling of darkness engulfing him. He began to succumb to that darkness, unable to fight it any longer. His eyes drooped until they were almost closed, and all he could see was the blurry image of a beautiful, sweet angel with pale moon eyes staring at him with desperate concern before he…

No! He couldn't die; not just yet.

Filled with new resolve, Naruto reached out with his right hand and grabbed the arm choking him with a fierce grip, alarming its owner. "I-impossible, you should be dead by now!"

Naruto locked eyes with Ruido, glaring at him with infinite willpower before declaring his resolve, "I refuse to die until…I've become a bigger badass than my father, _dattebayo_!"

Ruido watched in horror as another Rasengan formed in Naruto's left palm; it was smaller than the previous one and more unstable-looking because it was formed with only one hand, but it would definitely suffice for the situation.

The Cloud jonin let go of the boy, ending his agonizing electric torture, but Naruto held on with his right hand. Unable to break the twelve-year old's powerful grip on his arm, Ruido could only watch helplessly as Naruto plunged the incomplete Rasengan into his gut.

The blonde-haired Namikaze smirked in satisfaction as the sphere of rotating chakra drilled into Ruido's stomach, causing the man to give a sharp gasp of pain before he was engulfed completely by the Rasengan's light and blown away.

* * *

><p>The Kyuubi ran through the woods as fast as she could with tears flowing down her cheek. She didn't stop, she couldn't stop; she would do anything to escape the truth that had just been revealed to her. She just kept running and running until she could no longer breathe. After finally collapsing to her knees, Kyuubi lay panting heavily on the floor.<p>

'Even my father…no, even Minato-san thinks I'm a demon now,' thought Kyuubi bitterly, 'If what he told me…is true, then I should just kill myself. I should commit suicide and remove a great threat to the village.'

In a fit of rage, Kyuubi grabbed the engraved ruby necklace around her neck before tearing it off with a desolate shriek. She stared at it momentarily with a nostalgic expression before throwing it unceremoniously to the ground. Taking out a kunai from her holster, the human-form fox demon held its sharp point against her stomach, ready to take her own life.

"I'm afraid that I can't let you do that," said a voice, startling the Kyuubi. Turning around, the vixen found herself face to face with a strange man. He was wearing a black, high collared outfit and a black mask covering everything but his lower face. He was obviously a shinobi, and the oddest thing about him was that all of his exposed skin was a deep purple color.

"Who are you?" inquired Kyuubi.

The man gave no reply before immediately charging at the human _bijuu_. Kyuubi threw the kunai in her hand, but the purple-skinned shinobi dodged it with ease, not even allowing the projectile to slow his charge. With a burst of chakra, he suddenly flickered out of existence before reappearing in front of Kyuubi.

'No way, that was jonin-level speed,' mused Kyuubi, 'I'm out of my league here.'

The man reached out trying to grab the redhead with his right hand, but Kyuubi was able to react in time, jumping away swiftly. She was, however, forced to evade again when a hail of shuriken came after her. She performed a somersault in midair before landing on a tree branch.

After forming a cross-shaped seal with both hands, the Kyuubi created four shadow clones, who all rushed the enemy from different angles before engaging him in a chaotic _taijutsu_ match. The purple-skinned shinobi proved to be too fast and too skilled however; he easily evaded every punch and kick from the Kyuubi's kage bunshins and returned his own blows of much greater power, until eventually all the clones had been dispersed.

The real Kyuubi took out another kunai which she attached an exploding tag to. She then threw the kunai with great accuracy, expecting her opponent to dodge it and then get plastered by the following explosion. To her surprise, the man simply caught the kunai with his bare hands before throwing it back at her before it could detonate. When it finally did explode, the bladed weapon was in midair several feet away from her.

The explosion left behind a smoke screen which prevented Kyuubi from seeing her enemy before it was too late, when suddenly out of the smoke the man drop kicked her. The force of the kick was so great; it knocked her back to the ground where she slid until she hit a tree stump.

Before the red-haired demon girl could recover, several kunai pinned her to the tree, leaving her helplessly immobile, unable to escape whatever fate had in store for her.

* * *

><p>Naruto followed the trail of destruction left by his Rasengan in order to locate his captive schoolmate and her kidnapper.<p>

When he reached the end of the trail, he found Ruido waiting for him with Hinata still slung on his back and a gaping, spiral wound where his stomach was. The man was suffering from a fit of coughs.

"That jutsu of yours hurt like a major bitch," grunted Ruido in pain, "I'm pretty certain that I'll be dead in a few minutes if I don't get medical help."

"Well that's too bad, because you won't be getting any. Not as long as I'm around!" replied Naruto.

"I beg to differ," said Ruido before taking Hinata into his arms roughly and then holding a kunai to her petite neck, "If you don't get me to the nearest medic-nin before I die, well then, I'll be taking hime-san with me."

Naruto grit his teeth in frustration, "What makes you think the nearest medic would be willing to help you?"

"Well if they don't want the death of the Hyuuga clan heiress on their hands, then they'll do as I say!" exclaimed the former Leaf nin while he waved his kunai dangerously close to Hinata's jugular.

The poor heiress was sweating bullets in anticipation of what Naruto would do; after all, Naruto's decision would determine whether she could live or die. Naruto himself was mulling hard over the situation, trying to find another solution. He felt sick just thinking about Ruido being treated and surviving, but he absolutely could not let Hinata be killed.

He was running out of time.

"So, what are you gonna do? Come on, the clock is ticking," taunted the Cloud shinobi, "And don't try any funny business or I'll slit her throat right away."

"How would I know if that Hinata is the real one?" questioned Naruto, "I need some kind of guarantee that she won't blow up in sparks as soon as I save her."

Ruido smirked before taking his kunai and cutting Hinata's pale cheek, causing the girl to whimper softly in pain and blood to trickle from the cut.

"There, you see. Shadow clones don't bleed."

Now that he was sure that this was the real Hyuuga Hinata, Naruto was faced with the hardest decision he has ever encountered in his short life.

Closing his eyes, Naruto does the only thing he could do: he thinks. Hard

* * *

><p>Torune jumped down from the tree branch he was standing on after the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was successfully pinned to a stump by his expert shuriken throws. Trapped, the demon host would no longer be able to escape his assault. It would take but one touch and then his nano-sized venom beetles modified with acetylcholine-inhibiting toxins would completely paralyze her.<p>

He could not fail. He was the last shot in completing the mission that Danzo-sama had given them. Mizuki, the fool, had failed in capturing the jinchuuriki, and even Fu, his Yamanaka partner was unsuccessful. In his defense, Fu didn't expect the Yondaime Hokage to suddenly appear on the scene and stop his attack.

Fortunately for Torune, his brief conflict with the demon host led them both away from where the girl's ruby necklace fell, which Torune had learned was engraved with a _jutsu-shiki_ for the Yondaime's Hiraishin no Jutsu.

The Aburame ROOT agent opened and closed his hand, preparing the venom beetles for their upcoming task before charging directly at his hapless target.

* * *

><p>"I've grown impatient," said Ruido, "Make your decision now or I'll kill her on the spot."<p>

Naruto opened his eyes with determination. His pondering was over. He knew what to do. It was going to be a gamble, but if it worked, he could have his cake and eat it at the same time.

Forming a seal with both hands, Naruto replied, "I think I'll take a third option."

"I warned you! Now she dies!" exclaimed the Kumo jonin before grabbing his hostage and throwing her up into the air. Gripping his bladed weapon tightly, Ruido jumps, ready to impale the girl on his kunai.

However Naruto was planning for this. The son of the Yellow Flash braces himself, gathering a tremendous amount of chakra before releasing the fasting shunshin he has ever used in his life, causing his body to vanish in a flicker of golden light.

Unaware of this, Ruido stretches his hand upwards as the Hyuuga heiress plummets, pulled downwards by gravity. The jonin's kunai is dangerously close; a few more inches and then Hinata will be dead.

* * *

><p>Although Torune was moving fast enough to be a blur as he charged towards Kyuubi, the human bijuu girl sees the whole thing happening in slow motion as the ROOT agents arm and purple colored hand gets closer and closer to her.<p>

She struggles futilely against the weapons pinning her, but her strength seems to have left her completely.

A couple more milliseconds of eternity later and Torune's hand is now inches away from touching her face.

* * *

><p>Flash.<p>

Hinata's body vanishes with a flash just as Ruido's kunai touches her.

* * *

><p>Flash.<p>

Kyuubi's body disappears in a flash of light just before the tips of Torune's fingers make contact with her nose.

With his target gone, Torune's hand collides instead with the tree stump as his venom beetles begin consuming the bark of the tree.

* * *

><p>Naruto reappears on a tree branch with Hinata safe in his arms. Forming a half-tiger seals with his right index and middle finger, the blonde-haired Namikaze triggers the detonation of the exploding tag which he had placed on Ruido's back during the millisecond exchange.<p>

The last thought coursing through the doomed jonin's mind before his body was engulfed in the explosion was, "All I saw…was a yellow flash."

* * *

><p>Minato reappears over the ruby necklace he had given his daughter. The piece of jewelry is still lying on the grassy floor, lustrous and untouched.<p>

The blonde-haired Namikaze teleports again, leaving the redhead in his arms behind. She starts to drop in slow motion.

Meanwhile, Torune is still in the process of removing his hand from the tree stump, unaware of the Hiraishin tag on his back. One yellow flash later and the Aburame finds himself face to face with the cold, determined eyes of the Yondaime Hokage, while an ordinary kunai is stabbed into his gut. There is an exploding tag attached to it.

Minato quickly teleports back to his daughter, catching her before she hits the ground. There is an explosion in the distance, and an agent of Shimura Danzo is now dead.

* * *

><p>Naruto immediately removes the gag from Hinata's mouth, allowing her to speak again. Unfortunately, he can't do anything about her paralysis, but it will wear off momentarily so there isn't a problem. With her ability to talk without her voice being muffled returned to her, the timid girl finds herself…speechless.<p>

"I'm sure you're in such a rush to thank me," said Naruto sarcastically with a big grin, causing the moon-eyed heiress to blush terribly.

"I-I'm so-sorry, N-Naruto-kun. I should b-be more grateful; yo-you saved me," stuttered Hinata in gratitude, "Thank you so much! If it w-weren't for you, I would b-be…"

"Let's not think about that possibility, Hinata-chan. You're safe now," said Hinata's savior before he jumped abruptly startling the Hyuuga heiress in his arms. His jump took the boy and girl above the trees and up to the night sky. Their dual forms shone radiantly against a backdrop of the moon itself.

For a brief moment in time, Naruto witnessed Hinata fully illuminated by silver moonlight, giving her the appearance of a celestial goddess or a heavenly angel. Her pale, alabaster skin shone with cosmic luminescence and her violet eyes seemed to reflect the moon like two ethereal mirrors. Her beautiful indigo hair glossed in the moonlight, and the moisture coating her lips seemed to shine, enchanting Naruto with promises of a kiss.

But seconds later, the spell was broken, and the couple plummeted down to earth. Naruto cushioned the fall with chakra expelled from his feet, and once again the two were on solid ground.

"Can you move yet, Hinata-chan?" asked Naruto.

"U-Um, no, no-not yet; I'm s-sorry, Naruto-kun."

The blonde simply nodded in response, but both of them were secretly glad that Naruto would continue to carry Hinata bridal style for a while longer.

Looking down at the heiress in his arms, the twelve-year old boy could still see a ghost of the divine beauty who he had witnessed in the full moonlight.

"Hey, Hinata-chan," began Naruto, "Has anyone ever told you how pretty you are?"

Utterly speechless, all Hinata could do was gape and blush madly, giving her the skin tone of an overly ripe tomato. The only thoughts going through her head were, 'Please don't faint, please don't faint, please don't faint…'

Thankfully, Hinata was able to prevail and remain conscious, but it took her a little while longer to find her voice.

"I d-don't kn-know what to s-say, Nar-Naruto-kun. T-Thank you."

Naruto was about to reply when he was interrupted by the coming of a yellow flash, signaling the arrival of another.

"Hey there, Romeo, I see that you've saved yourself a damsel," said Uzumaki Choetsu playfully, "My congrats to you!"

"H-Hokage-sama!" stuttered Hinata, startled by the appearance of who she thought was the village leader.

"Huh, who's Romeo?" was Naruto's own puzzled reply.

"It's just a figure of speech; don't worry about it, Naruto-chan," explained the Rikudou Hiraishin, "Oh, and by the way Hinata-san, I'm not the Hokage. Minato is actually my brother."

"R-Really; then that m-means the person who d-distracted all the other Ku-Kumo nin earlier was you, n-not Yondaime-sama."

"Yup, this guy helped me rescue you, Hinata," confirmed Naruto, "His name is Choetsu, and apparently he's my long lost uncle. If it weren't for him, I would probably be dead right now and you would still be held captive by that Ruido-teme."

"Oh! T-thank you very much, Choetsu-san."

"It's not a problem, may I call you Hinata-chan?" asked Choetsu politely, to which the still paralyzed girl nodded a yes, "Well then, Hinata-chan; I'm glad you're safe now. You actually remind me of someone I know; someone very close to me. It's my mother actually."

"You mean my grandmother?" inquired Naruto curiously. Realizing his mistake, Choetsu tried to think of an excuse to fool the blonde twelve-year old.

"Actually, I'm talking about my adoptive mother," said Choetsu, puzzling Naruto who looked at him with a confused expression, "Your father and I were actually separated after our parents' death; I ended up being raised by a kind woman from another village while Minato stayed here and became a ninja before I did."

"Oh wow, that's crazy! Wait till Kurama hears about this; she was always interested in our family history," said Naruto enthusiastically.

"Speaking of your sister; I think it's about time we check up on her. She's probably with your father right now."

"What! My dad's back; since when?"

"Oh, not very long," answered Choetsu, "He came just in time to save your sister."

"Save my sister? You mean Kurama was in danger?" questioned the Namikaze with a troubled tone, "She was just supposed to be taking Mizuki-sensei's alternate graduation exam."

"Yeah, that's the thing; there is no alternate exam," said the Rinnegan-user, "That Mizuki fellow lied to her. It was all just a plot for him to get his hands on the Forbidden Scroll."

"And we fell for it," replied Naruto bitterly. An expression of rage became visible on the blonde genin's face as his teeth grit in anger and his hands scrunched up into fists, "That…bastard! He's going to pay for this…he's gonna pay one thousand times over for tricking my sister like that!"

"I'm afraid that you're too late. Your sister has already beaten the crap out of him; quite brutally in fact."

"Huh, are you serious?"

"Dead serious; you're sister even used a new technique to create over a thousand shadow clones to kick his ass. He definitely got what he deserved."

"That's awesome! Still," said Naruto, "I deserve some compensation too. I mean, I was the one who actually took the scroll; I'm entitled to at least one good punch in his face!"

"W-what are you talking about, Naruto-kun," joined Hinata, who had been quiet up till then, "What scroll are y-you talking about and what ha-happened to K-Kurama-san?"

"Oh, Hinata; I almost forgot that you have no clue what's going on," said Naruto sheepishly, "Sorry about that."

"It's f-fine."

"By the way, Hinata-chan," said Choetsu, "Would you like me to heal your paralysis for you? That way Naruto doesn't have to carry you all the time."

"S-Sure, Choetsu-san, that's very nice of y-you," replied Hinata, although both she and Naruto were secretly disappointed. Nonetheless, the blonde-haired boy immediately set Hinata gently on the ground, making sure she was comfortable.

"I'm no Tsunade," commented the Rikudou Hiraishin, his palms now glowing the color of vibrant, green chakra, "But I know a few things about medical ninjutsu."

The blonde time-traveler placed his hands above Hinata's torso as healing chakra seeped from his palm and into the Hyuuga's body. The healing chakra removed any trace amounts of paralyzing Raiton chakra, freeing Hinata's muscles from its numbing, stunning effects. Within a few seconds, the timid girl could feel her body again, and she reflexively tried to move her body parts.

After a little more of Choetsu's chakra therapy, Hinata had regained enough strength to stand up and walk, although her movements were somewhat wobbly.

"T-Thank you again, Choetsu-san!"

"Yeah, you're a lot more useful than I first took you for, Choetsu-teme."

"Well then, I'm glad that you think so highly of me, Naru-chan," replied the Rikudo sarcastically, "But now that Mo-I mean Hinata-chan is better we should leave."

The two recently graduated shinobi simply nodded in agreement before the trio vanished with a yellow flash.

* * *

><p>The Kyuubi looked up at her adoptive father with eyes widened in bafflement, "W-why…why did you save me!"<p>

Minato gave her a radiant, heartthrob smile before replying, "You're my daughter, silly! Of course I would save you!"

"B-b-but…I'm the Kyuubi no Kitsune. The same demon fox that attacked your village twelve years ago and nearly destroyed it. I'm a threat to your precious people…"

"You _are_ one of my precious people!" exclaimed Minato, interrupting the bijuu girl in midsentence.

"But you said I'm the Kyuubi! I'm just a demon, a monster to be feared. You can't love me…you shouldn't love me! Why do you still love me?"

"Because I don't care!" replied Minato vigorously, "I know what I said; the truth is, you are the Kyuubi. But I don't care; you're mother doesn't care, and you're brother doesn't know but I have a feeling that he wouldn't care either. And even if you were _Mikaboshi _himself I would still continue in my apathy. What I do care about is the fact that you…are my daughter. And this is your home."

"You are Namikaze Kurama, and nothing will ever change that."

Kurama began to cry after hearing her father's heartfelt declaration. The waterfall of tears overtook her as she sobbed while her father held her into his chest, helping the girl let all the pain and anguish go away.

"One more thing, tou-chan?" said Kurama while sobbing, "How did you reach me with Hiraishin this time? I threw the necklace away."

The blonde-haired Hokage gave her a smirk before answering, "After I told you that you were the Kyuubi, I knew that you were going to run away. I was expecting you to do something drastic like throw away the necklace and try to commit suicide. So just in case, I put a Hiraishin tag on your back when I was hugging you earlier."

"N-no way," whispered Kurama, who was shocked, "I didn't even know."

The father and daughter duo were suddenly joined by three more individuals arriving in a yellow flash of light. Minato noticed his time-displaced grandson right away, giving him a knowing look before speaking, "About time you showed up, Choetsu."

"Sorry, bro," replied the Rikudou Hiraishin, startling Minato who was taken aback by the brother comment, "I got lost on the road of life."

TBC

A.N. Well there you have it, Chapter 8. That takes care of my take on Chapter 1 of canon Naruto.

Anyways, if you guys want to try and picture the part where Naruto saves Hinata, just look at the scene in Shippuden Episode 248 where Minato saves baby Naruto from being stabbed by Tobi, just with different characters. That was basically my inspiration for it.

The next few chapters are going to deal with Naruto and Kurama starting their lives as genin, which means Team 7 will be established. Now, I want to get some feedback on this. Their are three options for the roster of Team 7 in this fanfic. Option 1 is the same as canon, with Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, while Kurama gets her own team with two OCs. Option 2 is Naruto, Sasuke, and Kurama, while Sakura gets her own team with two OCs. Option 3 is that Team 7 becomes a four-man cell instead of a three-man cell which Naruto, Sasuke, Kurama, and Sakura are all apart of. So let me know by reviewing and giving me your opinions, people!


	10. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Welcome to the parallel universe where I do own Naruto. Haha, just kidding.

Author's Note: Due on an overwhelming majority based on what people have told me in reviews, I have decided to go with Option 2 for my fic's Team 7 apologies if this chapter isn't as quite as exciting as Chapters 7 and 8, but in my defense, those two chapters were basically the climax of the first arc of my fic, and this chapter is the beginning of a new one.

But I digress, so without further adeu...

Chapter 9: The Power of a Rikudou

Namikaze Kushina paced back and forth nervously in the Hokage's Office, unable to keep her anxiety and restlessness from taking a hold of her body. The incessant pacing had gone on for quite a while, and now the only other occupant of the room was starting to get annoyed.

"I'm sorry, Kushina-chan," began Sarutobi Hiruzen, "but pacing over and over like that isn't going to do anything."

"I know that, _jiji_! But I can't help it," replied Kushina, "I'm just so worried about them."

"I understand how you feel, Kushina. If Konohamaru was in the same situation…" continued Hiruzen before being interrupted by a familiar flare of light. Arriving with the yellow flash was a total of five individuals. Recognizing her two children off the bat, Kushina immediately rushed at them with a squeal of happiness before wrapping them both up in a powerful embrace.

"Oh you two; I'm so, so glad that you're safe!" gushed Kushina with tears streaking down her cheeks, "I would have had to "punish" you're father if any one of you came back hurt."

Minato gulped audibly.

"_Mom_ stop, you're kind of embarrassing," muttered Naruto in his mother's bear hug while blushing, "Hinata-chan's right there."

At the mention of her name, the timid girl gave a quiet, shrill eek in surprise, which caught the attention of the Sandaime.

"Huh, isn't that Hiashi-san's daughter?" inquired the aged leader, "What is she doing here?"

"U-um, Hokage-sama, I, I w-was…"stuttered Hinata, unable to finish her sentence due to her mind going in a state of anxiety as she relived the traumatizing events of her kidnapping, still fresh in her mind. Taking pity on the girl, Minato decided to finish for her.

"What she means to say, Sarutobi-sama, is that at the same time Kurama had stolen the Forbidden Scroll, Hinata-san was…"

"Hokage-sama! My daughter Hinata has been kidnapped!" exclaimed Hyuuga Hiashi as he barged into the room, interrupting the Yondaime in mid-sentence. "We must try and search for her immediately!"

All eyes in the room shifted immediately to the source of the outburst; some in frustration, others with amusement, and finally the remaining in confusion. After a lengthy uncomfortable silence, Hinata finally gained the courage to speak up, giving out a tiny squeak before saying, "B-but Otou-sama, I'm right here."

Hiashi gaped in shock as he finally noticed the presence of his twelve-year old daughter in the room, gazing upon her in total bewilderment. "H-Hinata…what are you…b-but I thought…when did get here?"

Minato gave a loud cough before speaking, "Allow me to explain, Hiashi-san. Before I was interrupted, I was just about to debrief the Sandaime about your daughter's kidnapping incident this evening."

"So she was kidnapped, then. And since she is here safe and sound then that means you must have rescued her. You have my infinite gratitude, Yondaime-sama."

"Don't look at me;" replied the blonde Hokage, "It was my son Naruto who rescued Hinata-san with some help from my brother Choetsu."

The Hyuuga clan leader's eyes promptly widened at the small revelation, "I…thank you, Naruto-sama. You have my gratitude for rescuing my daughter. And I wasn't aware that you had a brother, Yondaime-sama."

"Yeah, Choetsu has been gone from the village for quite some time," explained Minato, "He's been away on a highly clandestine S-Rank mission that only Sarutobi-sama and I were aware of. He was just recently able to complete it, which is why I had to leave the village for business related to the mission."

"Ah, I see. It's a pleasure to meet you, Choetsu-san," said Hinata's father while addressing Minato's "twin". The Yondaime look-alike gave a Cheshire gin in return before replying whimsically, "The pleasure's all mine, Hiashi-_jiji_."

The eyes of several occupants of the room widened at the time traveler's use of honorific, as they were all aware of the Hyuuga clan leader's fixation on proper etiquette and respect. Hiashi himself was twitching at the nickname he had just been given.

"I beg your pardon, Choetsu-san," said Hiashi, eyes narrowing in contempt. In the background, Hinata shivered, knowing full well how her father could be some times, especially when he feels disrespected.

"I apologize, Hiashi-san," said Minato, stopping Choetsu from further insulting Hinata's father, "My brother has been isolated from society for some time due to his mission; he means you no disrespect."

"I'm sure he doesn't, Hokage-sama," replied Hiashi after calming down slightly, "and I hope your brother's reintegration into proper Konoha society goes well. Now then, if you would excuse me, I would take my leave. Hinata, come with me, you have much to explain."

"Y-yes, Otou-sama," stuttered the timid girl before trailing after her already departed father. Noticing that the girl whom he had rescued was just about to leave, Naruto immediately ran after her before grabbing on to her shoulder.

"Hinata, before you go, just remember what I told you earlier before we were interrupted. I wasn't lying about that at all," said Naruto, causing Hinata to blush like a tomato; she knew exactly what comment he was talking about. Looking back at his daughter, Hiashi's eyes widened suspiciously before calling out to her.

"Hinata, come, it is already quite late."

"Coming, Otou-sama." And then she had left.

"Well then, I think I'm done here," stated Choetsu, "If anyone needs me I'll be somewhere on this planet. Maybe."

"Huh? Where are you going, Choetsu," questioned Minato.

"Yeah, Uncle Choetsu, how come you're leaving already? You just got here!" added Naruto, worried that his newfound "uncle" was going to leave so soon.

"Sorry folks, but I've got some business I need to take care of," explained the _Rikudou Hiraishin_, "But, don't worry, I won't be gone as long as the last time."

"I guess it can't be helped then, "said Minato, "But before you leave, I need to talk to you on the roof. Privately." The Yondaime promptly vanished with his signature Hiraishin.

"Oh boy, private serious talky time with nii-san; oh what fun we shall have," said Choetsu sarcastically, "Well then, I mustn't keep our dear Hokage waiting. So I'm afraid that this is goodby-…"

"W-wait, before you go Choetsu-san…" began Kurama before being interrupted.

"Just call me Uncle Choetsu; I am your father's brother after all."

"O-Okay, Uncle…Choetsu; I just wanted to tell you that my name is Kurama, and that it's very nice to finally see you. I've always wanted to meet other members of our family."

The Rikudou gave his "niece" a radiant smile before replying, "And here I am. Don't you just love it when things work out like this, Kurama-chan? Anyways, I'll be going now, but when I get back I have a bunch of juicy, embarrassing stories to tell you about Minato-nii."

"R-Really?"

"Of course; I never go back on a promise! Unless I feel like it or it's highly convenient to do so, but that's an entire different matter."

"Thanks Uncle Choetsu!" exclaimed the vixen in gratitude before bear-hugging the man, "You're seriously the best Uncle I've ever had."

"Oof, that's not very reassuring; I'm your only uncle after all…" commented Choetsu before he teleported away in a yellow flash.

Meanwhile, Hiruzen had watched the entire bonding scene from his desk with a mirthful look on his face, "It seems that your daughter has taken quite a liking to her "uncle", don't you think so, Kushina-chan?"

"Well yeah, whatever; but if he becomes a bad influence on her, I swear I'm going to castrate him with an exploding tag!" raged Kushina demonically while clenching her fist. The killing intent she was emitting was terrifying all the other occupants of the room.

'That's exactly what she threatened me with earlier tonight,' mused Hiruzen while giving a slight shiver of fear, 'Minato, I pray that you never upset her; I'd much rather not have to leave my retirement again…'

* * *

><p>Once they were outside of the Hokage's Manor, Hyuuga Hiashi turned to his daughter and asked, "Are you…hurt anywhere, Hinata?"<p>

The heiress shook her head and said, "N-no, Otou-sama, Choetsu-san healed all of my injuries after Na-Naruto-kun saved me."

Her father simply nodded in response, "Tell me, Hinata, who kidnapped you?"

"T-they were ninjas from the Hi-hidden Cloud. They attacked me when I was walking home from my p-private training and knocked me unconscious."

"See, Hinata, this is why I told you to bring bodyguards with you. Ko-san would have been more than happy to accompany you, and then none of this would have ever happened," rebuked her father sternly.

_'To be honest, father, a part of me is glad that this whole fiasco happened_,' thought Hinata while reminiscing about a certain blonde.

Outwardly she says, "I'm s-sorry Father, for my weakness. " The pale eyed _genin_ proceeds to bow her head in shame, unable to look her father in the eyes. Hiashi's brow rises in puzzlement at the girl's submissive action.

"Hinata, you…you don't have to apologize. All I care about is that you are safe…and sound," said the otherwise stoic Byakugan-user with some difficulty. Hinata's eyes widen at her father's words of concern before she begans to tear up. Unable to restrain herself any longer, the crying heiress runs forward and hugs her father at his waist, muffling her sobs in the fabric of Hiashi's robes.

Caught of guard by his usually reserved daughter's emotional embrace, all Hiashi could do was wrap his arms around the girl's shoulders and softly caress her back with awkward affection.

"Everything's going to be alright, Hinata; we can go home now. You're sister has been waiting for you."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, on the roof, Minato was leaning against a railing with his arms crossed, waiting for his grandson to arrive. After sensing the familiar feeling of a Hiraishin user arriving on the roof, the Yondaime looked up, meeting the eyes of his time-displaced descendant.<p>

"What took you so long," asked Minato with a smirk, "Lost on the road of life again, huh Choetsu?"

"Not this time, gramps," replied the Rikudou Hiraishin, "I was actually having a rather pleasant conversation with that red haired bundle of energy who you call your daughter."

"You were spending time with Kurama?"

"Yes, yes, spending time, family bonding; all that social interaction goodness that people just can't live happily without. And I'd rather like to think that my quote unquote niece has taken a nice liking to me."

"Of course she would; Kurama has always been interested in meeting another member of our family."

"Or maybe she just realizes my inherent magnificence; I am the Rikudou Hiraishin after all."

"I highly doubt that, Choetsu. She has more reason to fear you than to be in awe of you; you were the one who sealed her, after all. By the way, I never got the chance to ask how you did that?" questioned the blonde Hokage.

"I'll let you in on a little secret that only us Rikudous know," said Choetsu.

"You mean there are more than one Rikudou?"

"Of course, there are actually a total of three from my timeline. There's the original Rikudou Sennin, there's me, the Rikudou Hiraishin, and finally, there's…another one. He was called the _Rikudou Eiyuu_, or Hero of Six Paths. But anyways, the power I used to transform the Kurama into a human is related to a legendary ability first possessed by the original Rikudou," explained Choetsu, "Tell me; have you ever heard of _Banbutsu Sozo_?"

"Banbutsu Sozo; you mean the Creation of All Things? I thought that was a myth."

"No, no; it's very much a real technique. As real as your Hiraishin is; it's a jutsu that allows the user to create almost anything from chakra through the manipulation of Yin-Yang Release, _Omyoton_."

"But we can already create physical objects from chakra; I'm sure you already know this but my wife Kushina can create powerful chains from her special chakra," argued Minato.

"That's different; the chains she makes are merely constructs, not permanent physical objects. They fade away over time, once the chakra used to make them is gone. Banbutsu Sozo, on the other hand, can make permanent creations that never fade away; look at the _Bijuu_ for example. They are immortal and have roamed the planet for millennia."

"You mean that Banbutsu Sozo created the Tailed Beasts; that's incredible!"

"Yes, it is quite a handy technique to have; it can even make genuine, sentient life, as well as the souls that come with them. And the only way to obtain it is through the final form of the Rinnegan. However, Banbutsu Sozo has a counterpart."

"Are you saying there's another jutsu out there that is just as powerful as Creation of All Things?" asked Minato, bewildered.

"Yes; it's called _Banbutsu Hakai_," stated the Rikudou, "or Destruction of All things. It is the polar opposite of Banbutsu Sozo. Please tell me that I don't have to explain what exactly it is that it does?"

"It's a very powerful technique that is extremely good at destroying things, isn't it?"

"Congratulations! I can see why you were chosen to be Hokage," replied Choetsu sarcastically, "But it doesn't just destroy physical things. It can destroy the metaphysical as well, like souls or _kami_, and even the purely conception; big ideas like time, death, fate, and love can all be erased from existence by this ability."

"That's just plain…insane," remarked the Hokage in awe, "That jutsu seems ridiculously overpowered."

"It is very much so, but only one who possesses the powerful eye of the original Juubi can obtain this ability," said Choetsu before his eyes shifted from the Rinnegan to a menacing, crimson eye with ten _tomoe_ revolving like planets around a central pupil, "Like myself and the Rikudou Eiyuu."

"Those eyes…they look like the Sharingan," commented Minato in awe, "W-why do you have them?"

"Well, both the Rikudou Eiyuu and I were perfect jinchuurikis of the complete Juubi at one point in our lives, and I still am. That's the only way to unlock this dojutsu; by taming the Ten Tails. Not an easy task, trust me."

"I…see," said Minato, his mind straining to comprehend it all, "This is a lot to take in, though. I'm not sure if I'm following right, but, how did you use a technique that can destroy anything you can think of to transform the Kyuubi into a baby, human girl."

Choetsu gave a brief chuckle in mirth before replying, "That's the thing; you don't. The jutsu I used to transform the Kyuubi was neither Banbutsu Sozo nor Banbutsu Hakai. It was actually a third ability on the same level as the other two."

"Great, another one," snarked Minato.

"Yes, there is another one. You see; because I have both the final form of the Rinnegan and the Juubi's eye, unlike my fellow Rikudous who only have one or the other, I can combine both dojutsu in to one. When Creation of All Things and Destruction of All Things are used against each other, they cancel out because they are completely opposing forces. But when they are combined, they give birth to a whole new ability: _Banbutsu Henge_."

"It's called Transformation of All Things?"

"Yes, it's a jutsu that allows one to warp reality at will on a universal scale; absolute control of all space, time, matter, and energy throughout all of existence almost like the Mangekyo technique _Tsukiyomi_, but instead of being an illusion, it is reality."

"And that's how you transformed the Nine-Tails…"

"Ding, ding, and we have a winner!"

"But I don't understand," continued Minato, "If you're this powerful, if you're this omnipotent, why don't you use it more often. With your three abilities you could end the flawed shinobi system and create a genuine peace!"

"I've already done all that," replied Choetsu, "In my original timeline, when I became a True Rikudou I used my power and knowledge to bring peace, unite the world, and create an absolute utopia. For my accomplishments, I was called the _Shodai Kamikage_."

"First Divine Shadow, huh? Then tell me, if you've already created peace in your time, why come here? You said you wanted to make the future a better place, but if it already is thanks to your efforts…"

"I'm here for the very same reason that I told you. I'm still trying to create a utopia, but this universe isn't my own. I'm not obligated to improve it; at least not directly. Your world must find its own peace; all I can do is guide you. That's why I'm here," finished Choetsu.

* * *

><p>After the Hyuugas had left and their own father and "uncle" had themselves departed, Naruto and Kurama were dragged outside of the Hokage's Office, leaving the old Sandaime to finish any remaining paperwork before the Yondaime reclaimed his post.<p>

Both siblings gulped in fear as they looked around and realized that they were alone in the hall way with their mother. And she was pissed.

"Okay, kiddos, now that my happiness over you two returning safely has gone away," growled the former jinchuuriki menacingly, "I have just enough fury in me to fuel your well deserved punishment!"

The two children of the Hokage began to shiver in fear.

"What were you two thinking, stealing the Forbidden Scroll like that? Oh, and Naruto, don't bother trying to say you weren't involved, cause I know you stole the scroll together. You two never do anything without each other."

"Let me explain, Kaa-chan!" panicked Naruto, deathly afraid of his mother's wrath, "It's not Kurama's fault; our sensei Mizuki tricked her into stealing the scroll! He told her that it was an alternate graduation exam!"

"I already know that, _dattebanne_!" exclaimed Kushina loudly.

_'Man, Mom hasn't said that in such a long time_,' mused Kurama, _'She must be really worked up_.'

"That's not an excuse!" continued the raging mother, "You two should know better. The only person in the entire village who is allowed to tell you to break a law is your father."

"W-We're sorry, Kaa-chan," stammered Kurama while bowing her head in shame.

"Yeah, Mom, I promise we won't do anything like this ever again," added Naruto.

Kushina's facial expression softened as a result of their sincere apologies. The crimson haired mother promptly kneeled down and took both her children in another embrace.

"Nonetheless, I am still so happy that you two are okay. And I'm proud of you at the same time; you, Kurama, for defeating that Mizuki jerk, and you, Naruto, for saving the Hyuuga heiress."

"Thanks, Mom," chorused the two siblings, happy that their mother's anger had diffused. Or so they thought.

"But once we get back, you two are still getting the punishment of a lifetime!" yelled Kushina abruptly, startling her two children, "I haven't dolled out a good _spanking_ in quite a while, 'ttebane!"

"No, anything but that!" shrieked Naruto and Kurama in abject horror.

* * *

><p>"So, what do you plan on doing now," inquired Minato curiously after a long silence following Choetsu's speech.<p>

"Huh?"

"I was wondering what you planned to do. You said you were going somewhere."

"Oh, that; yeah, like I said, I've got some important Rikudou business I need to take care of," answered Choetsu off-handedly, "Nothing really major, the worse that could happen is that the entire planet blows up and then I'll have to settle for sipping cold sake on the Moon to relieve my boredom."

"What!" exclaimed Minato in alarm.

"Good lord, for a legendary genius you are one gullible, easily shocked ninja," chuckled the blonde Rinnegan-user, "I mean come on, do you really think I would be reduced to sipping cold sake on the Moon if Earth was reduced to space rubble. I have plenty of other more interesting places to be in the universe doing plenty of more interesting things."

"Choetsu…" growls Minato warningly.

The Rikudou Hiraishin promptly raises his hands in defense of himself before replying, "Oh fine, fine; I honestly do have business to attend to, and it really isn't anything major. But if it goes off without a hitch, Konoha will benefit from it."

"How long will you be gone?"

"Not very long, ji-chan. I'll be back before Naruto and Kurama take their first _Chunin_ exam, maybe even earlier."

"Good, that's all I needed to know. Good luck to whatever it is your doing; just make sure you don't royally screw anything to hell," said Minato.

"Funny; that's the same thing that Sennin-teme told me when I had first left for this universe, just paraphrased a bit…I think. Well then, toodaloo, and good luck with the missus. My Human Path told me that its baa-chan's time of month right now, so I would be extra careful; wouldn't want the kids to be without a dad so soon," rambled Choetsu before his body flickered out of existence; gone with the yellow flash.

Minato, now alone on the roof, simply shook his head in disbelief, "What exactly goes on in that guy's head."

There is another flash, and he too is gone.

* * *

><p>The girl looked on in horror as her lover was murdered brutally before her very eyes. His long, brown hair and his rugged clothes that were customary of his trade were all drenched in blood; his blood. And all she could do was watch.<p>

It was just one law. One stupid, little law! But it defined village politics, and he had died for speaking out against it, even though he had every right as a loving human to do so.

The girl felt an unbelievable sadness wash over her; no longer would she be able to see him anymore. No longer would she be able to hold him and be held by him. They could no longer kiss, and she would never be able to give that one special part of her that only she as a women could give to him.

He was dead.

A part of her wanted to weep and run forever and lock her heart and soul away. That's what she felt at first, and it was a highly dominant feeling. But then she felt another emotion rising within; rage. She wanted to rage against the heavens for taking her love from her.

Then, there was that tugging. It was a tugging pull coming from her heart that spread throughout her body before concentrating in her eyes. She felt like they were searing with heat, but it was painless, and then she saw visions. Indescribable visions.

Then finally, the raven-haired girl felt an incredible force well up inside of her, ready to erupt from her body, causing her eyes to widen, revealing them to be changed. They were now grayish, purple concentric rings surrounding a black iris.

Suddenly, the powerful force exploded outwards from her like a shockwave, tearing across the landscape with irresistible strength. It tore through everything; trees, buildings, hills, and people were all reduced to dust as the wave of force swept them away fiercely.

When it was over, the shockwave dissipated, leaving the girl alone in a nearly kilometer-wide crater filled with decimated rubble, unable to comprehend the destruction surrounding her.

Her home, her beloved Nadeshiko Village, had just been pulverized. And it was all her fault. She began to cry.

Suddenly, there was a warm hand on her shoulder. Alarmed, thirteen-year old Shizuka turned around, coming face to face with a spiky blonde-haired man wearing a golden _jonin_ vest and a white, high-collared cloak with gold pattered flames. He resembled someone famous.

"W-who are yo-you?" stuttered Shizuka while sobbing.

"Rikudou Hiraishin, at your service; and I must say, you've got quite a powerful _Shinra Tensei_. Especially for a newly awakened Rinnegan-user like yourself," said the man reassuringly while giving her a radiant smile, "Sorry about the lover though, what was his name. Sagiri I think. Oh, and your village too. And everything else you hold dear."

The heart-broken teenager's only response was to break down in tears again, burying her face in the palms of her hands, "I a-am, I am…w-what am I? Am I a monster! Tell me!"

"Shh, easy there; you're not a monster, Shizuka-chan. None of this was your fault," said the Rikudou Hiraishin reassuringly as he leaned down to comfort the distraught princess.

"But they're all dead and I'm responsible!" shrieked Shizuka in anguish, "I was angry and furious and then it just all came out in one big wave and destroyed everyone!"

"Even so, you didn't mean for it to happen like that," whispered Choetsu softly, "Tell you what. If you come with me to learn how to control those new eyes of yours, that way nothing like this will ever happen again, then I'll resurrect all your loved ones that died today."

"What! N-no way; you can do that!" stammered Shizuka in utter bafflement, "But that's impossible! No one…nobody can bring back the dead."

"No one but me, that is. And eventually you too, once you master that new power of yours."

"M-Me, but I can't…I can't even imagine being able to do something like that."

"Oh but you will, you will; when I'm through with you darling, you'll be a goddess. All you have to do is take my hand," said Choetsu after standing up and stretching out his palm for her to grab. The Rikudou was looking at her with an expression of extreme confidence; it was almost contagious. Shizuka felt like she could become anything she wanted and achieve the impossible, and all she needed to do was take his hand.

And she did.

"Marvelous; now for my part of the deal," said the Rikudou Hiraishin while he formed a sequence of hand seals, "_Gedou: Rinne Tensei_ (Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life)!"

* * *

><p>Amegakure no Sato was a small but heavily industrialized village, known to outsiders as being subject to endless rain and ruled by a legendary shinobi called Hanzo of the Salamander. He was said to be one of the most powerful ninja to ever lived, having in his prime fought all three of Konoha's <em>Densetsu no Sannin<em> without breaking a sweat before he allowed them to live in respect for their skills.

What foreigners didn't know however was that Hanzo was already dead, murdered by his usurper. Now in his place reigned a man who Ame citizens only knew as Lord Pain. They worshipped him like a god and treated his right-hand woman as if she was an angel from Heaven.

"What's wrong, Nagato?" questioned Konan, the blue haired "Lady Angel" herself, "You seem troubled all of sudden."

The object of her inquiry, a spiky ginger with numerous facial piercings, was Lord Pain himself; or more specifically, the Deva Path of Pain. Konan and Pain were situated at the top of Amegakure's highest tower, watching over their beloved village like two _kami_ preciding over Earth.

"Just now I felt…the power of a Rinnegan that wasn't mine," muttered Pain in bewilderment. Konan's eyes widened at Pain's statement, showing that the blue-haired woman was equally shocked by that particular piece of information.

"N-No way, but that's…maybe it was that man from twelve years ago; the one who defeated Mad-I mean Tobi."

"You mean the Rikudou Hiraishin. No, it's not him," replied Yahiko's corpse, "This power that I felt; it was completely uncontrolled, without any restrain whatsoever. It was like the user had just newly awakened his or her Rinnegan."

"Do you think there might be new Rinnegan user out there?" asked Konan curiously.

"It's possible. But I have a feeling that we will soon find out."

TBC

A.N. Like I said, I'm sorry if this chapter isn't as exciting as the last, but I think it's a necessary bridge to the next arc of my story, which will basically deal with the formation of Team 7 and their first C-Rank Misison. I was planning to get to that this chapter but due to time and length constraints I wasn't able to.

However, rest assured, next week will begin the journey for Team 7 and it will also include the much awaited Namikaze family discussion, where you will get to see Minato and Kushina's reactions to what happened in the previous chapters, as well as Naruto's reaction to Kurama's true status.

Also, about Shizuka having the Rinnegan; I understand some people were complaining that her addition was completely random, and I have to be honest with you; at first, she really was. That was the whole point, Choetsu basically picked a completely random character to give the Rinnegan to. But now that I developed the plot a little further, I realized that there are some things about Shizuka that will make for some very interesting (I hope) story lines. All I'm going to say right now is to remember that Shizuka is supposedly destined to fight and marry a student of Jiraiya, and that in this fic, it won't be Naruto.

And finally, the techniques Banbutsu Hakai and Banbutsu Henge are original techniques that I myself had made up, at least as far as I know. And although the title of Rikudou Eiyuu belongs to me, the character him/herself is NOT an OC.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, so please review, people!


	11. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: e7cg13 performs a series of hand seals at blinding speeds before yelling out, "I don't own Naruto no jutsu!" And then the final villain dies in a fiery firestorm of...fire. There is much rejoicing.

Author's Note:Not much to say right now, so anyways, here you go...

Chapter 10: Dealing with a Self-Proclaimed God

Choetsu looked fondly at the girl sleeping across from him. It had been a long day for her, and she deserved every ounce of sleep she could get.

'_Damn, Shizuka-chan's going to have some seriously huge knockers in a few years_,' mused the blonde-haired time traveler perversely. As if sensing his perverted thoughts, the raven-haired teenager stirred in her sleep and seemed to punch thin air.

The princess had gone practically catatonic when he had resurrected her entire village with _Rinne Tensei_, and she could barely remain conscious when Choetsu had used a series of _Doton _and _Mokuton _jutsus to rebuild the village itself single-handedly. When the transcendent one had introduced himself and explained Shizuka's situation to the villagers, they were at first horrified and looked upon their once destroyer in terror.

But Choetsu informed them that he would be training Shizuka in controlling her new dojutsu and then they calmed down. It helped that he also had told them that Shizuka having full mastery over the Rinnegan would become an immense asset to their military power.

Suddenly, time stopped.

All motion everywhere was halted. Looking around, Uzumaki Choetsu realized that he was the only one not affected. He knew immediately who the cause was.

"So, did you finally succumb to boredom and decide to partake in some fun with me," muttered Choetsu with a smirk, "Eh, Sennin-teme?"

"Not quite," responded a voice from behind him, "I've taken an interest in your little game, but I don't plan to become involved just yet."

Turning around, the _Rikudou Hiraishin_ found himself looking upon a sagely individual with snow white hair that spiked upwards to form two horn-like protrusions. He was dressed in a long, majestic white cloak and wielded a _shakujo_, or monk staff, in his right hand. He was wearing a necklace of _magatama_ andhis aged face gave the appearance of a loving grandfather. Finally, his eyes were that of the Rinnegan itself.

"So still a spectator, huh," continued Choetsu, "Oh pooh, I was so looking forward to all the excitement you could add to this mess! Oh, and ah! Is that you're physical avatar? It most certainly does you justice, old man, if I do say so myself."

"It was the form I took when I was still a human," explained the _Rikudou Sennin_ matter-of-factly, "before the Tengoku and my ascension that is."

"I can already imagine. By the way, how fares the ol' Inner Realm. Boring as usual, I take it; celestial planes of infinite energy and transcendent knowledge not as exciting as they used to be, eh. But enough of that; why are you here?"

"Like you said, I'm a spectator, but I'd prefer it if you used the term _critic_. Yes, yes, I am your critic in this story you have woven, Uzumaki."

"Ah, a critic; then that must make me the author. So what do you plan on complaining about; is it the general randomness or my unwanted involvement in the story which has you so off put?"

"Critics don't just complain, Uzumaki."

"Well, old farts like you have a tendency to do just that. But do continue…"

The old sage took his staff and used it to gesture to Shizuka, frozen in time, "Her. What do you plan to do with her?"

"You're virtually omniscient, just like me; shouldn't you already know?"

"You know as well as I do that the direct actions of another True Rikudou are hidden from us; past, present, and future."

"Yeah, that's why I could never beat you in those hyper-dimensional poker games we used to play…"

"Are you going to explain your motives, or not?"

"Not! An author doesn't give away what happens at the end of his story!" rebuked Choetsu.

"That hasn't stopped you from giving "reviewers" from other universes a hint of what's to come. And yes, I know what you've been doing; whenever you're not busy here you've been galvanizing of into other timelines, asking alternate clones of you and me what they think about your little pet project and then giving them previews," said the Sage bitterly.

"And; what's wrong with that?" asked the Flying Thunder God.

"You haven't told me, who is from the very same timeline as you by the way, a single lick of your plans!"

"Oh fine! If you want to be all jealous and butthurt about it then I guess I'll just spill," said Choetsu, "I'm taking Shizuka-chan with me so she can master the Rinnegan."

"You're going to train her?"

"Pshh, no!" scoffed the blonde Rinnegan-user, "I'm taking her to Amegakure."

"Oh, the false Rikudou; how do you plan on enlisting his help? Blackmail, _Kotoamatsukami_, by force?" inquired the original Rikudou.

"No, through words; not to quote the Godfather, but I'll make him an offer he can't refuse," answered Choetsu with a grin.

"Ah, bribery then; you shall bribe a crippled man who is egotistical enough to call himself God. That will definitely work," snarked the Rikudou Sennin.

"Seriously, the combined sarcasm we generate when we're together is just too much for the Human Realm to handle. You should probably consider leaving before the whole damn dimension collapses from your snarkiness."

"Oh fine, but one more thing," said the originator of _ninjutsu_, "To what extent are you willing to involve yourself with any of the pieces in your game?"

"What do you mean by that, Sennin-teme?" asked Choetsu.

"What I mean is…well, for example; if a major battle was being fought on this world, and a lot of the characters you've invested in were involved, would you interfere? And if you would, how much of your true power would you actually reveal?"

"Hmm…well, I would interfere, depending on how critical the situation is," answered Choetsu, "But usually not directly, and even if I did I wouldn't show any of my real abilities. Basically, what I've been doing so far; holding back, goofing around, and only using random jutsus that at least somewhat match the situation."

"Ah, I see. Well then, I guess I'll be going now. Have fun with your game, Uzumaki," finished the Rikudou Sennin before he simply vanished without a trace.

"Oh I will, I most certainly will," said Choetsu with a brief chuckle as time unfroze itself, causing all the motion surrounding him to resume their destined courses.

* * *

><p>Minato arrived in the foyer of his home's living room with the accompaniment of a familiar flash. The large estate his family lived in was provided for him as the Hokage, and was the largest private residence in Konoha. It included an oasis-like hot spring, multiple private training grounds, a sanctuary for meditation, and even its own miniature rice plantation.<p>

The main house itself was painted in a combination of majestic white and fiery red, and was about the same size as the Hokage Building. It contained over 25 rooms, many of them being living/dining rooms or guest rooms, along with a few extensive storage rooms and multiple kitchens. It even had its own private library.

Truth be told, Minato thought the manor was overly extravagant and would much rather live in a humble family home at the outskirts of town, but the people of Konoha insisted.

Upon arriving at his home of over twelve years, it didn't take long for the blonde father to hear the sound of two individuals wailing in pain and desperate terror resounding throughout the house. It also didn't take long for him to register the screams as belonging to his two children, Naruto and Kurama.

Panicking, the village leader immediately teleported to the part of the manor which he had pinpointed as the source of the screaming. Arriving in a flash, the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha was greeted not by enemy shinobi or vicious man-eating monsters, but by…

"Good God, Kushina! Have some _mercy_ on them!" exclaimed Minato in horror.

Kushina turned around, temporarily shifting her attention away from what she was doing to her husband before saying, "Oh come on, Minato; it's not like its child abuse or anything. And besides, these two haven't gotten a good spanking in a long time."

Minato looked at Kushina, then at his two children in the middle of their mother's horrifically unspeakable "punishment", and then back at Kushina again, who was by the way sporting a highly sadistic grin on her face. Naruto and Kurama were still wailing disturbingly in pain.

"I'm so relieved that I buy you gifts on a regular basis and make sure to never upset you," muttered Minato nervously under his breath.

"What was that, honey?"

"Uh, nothing!"

* * *

><p>After relieving the two Namikaze siblings from their punishment, which earned him a tremendous amount of gratitude from them, Minato called a family meeting in one of the dining rooms. After his entire household had relocated to the room in question and gathered around the dining table, Minato began the discussion with a question.<p>

"So, now that we're all here, safe and sound, I want you two to tell me something; what exactly happened tonight?"

"But, daddy, you already know," began Kurama, "Iruka-sensei told you, remember?"

"He only told me what happened from his perspective," said Minato, "I want to know _everything_ that went on last night, with both of you. I haven't even heard one bit of Naruto's story yet; all I know is that he saved the Hyuuga heiress from some Kumo nin."

"Should they start at the beginning, then?" asked Kushina. Her husband nodded in response.

"I'll start it then. But first, I…need to tell my brother something…something important," spoke Kurama hesitantly. After hearing what she had said, Minato had a knowing look on his face which he presented to her reassuringly, while Kushina's eyes widened in shock; the motor-mouth mother knew exactly what Kurama was talking about.

The only one out of the loop was Naruto himself, and that would change pretty soon…

"Naruto, I'm sorry if this comes as a surprise to you, and trust me, I didn't even know until tonight and it still shocked the hell out of me, but, " began Kurama before pausing dramatically, "I'm not your real sister."

Naruto's eyes widened comically, as if he was a deer caught in the headlights of a fast incoming motor vehicle. His jaw was practically *this* close to dropping, and even his eyes were displaying the sheer amount of…astonishment going through the blonde's head at the moment. He was at a loss for words.

"C-could you…repeat that for me, o-one more time?"

"I'm not your real sister, Naruto, and Mom and Dad aren't my real parents," confirmed the red haired vixen, who was glaring solely at the floor with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Does that mean you're adopted then!" yelled Naruto before abruptly standing up.

"N-Not quite; I'm kind of a special case. A very special case," explained Kurama while trying to hide her anxiety, "D-do you remember all the things we learned about the Kyuubi attack on Konoha twelve years ago; around the time we were borne."

"U-Um, yeah, sorta; I mean we learned about it in history," muttered Naruto, trying to make sense of what his sister was telling him, "Doesn't the Nine-Tails go on a big rampage that kills a lot of people before Tou-chan uses some super powerful jutsu to kill him?"

"Not exactly; that's just the official story," replied Kurama, "No matter what he tried, Daddy…wasn't able to kill the Fox that night. Instead, he had to use a different method to stop the beast…"

"W-was it sealing? You sealed the Kyuubi, didn't you Dad! And…and you s-sealed it in…w-wait, no way," stuttered Naruto as the pieces finally came together for him, "I-inside Kurama…when we were borne."

"You almost got it, Naruto, but I didn't…I didn't seal the Kyuubi inside of Kurama…it was actually…no, it's not my place to tell," said Minato, "Kurama, continue please."

"Tou-chan didn't seal the Kyuubi inside me…I am the Kyuubi!"

Once again, Naruto was speechless.

"I don't…know exactly what you're feeling right now, Nii-san. But I hope, more then anything, that you can still consider me your sister. But if you don't, well, it's fine. I completely underst-…"

"I don't care!" interrupted Naruto, who had just given his redheaded sister a heartwarming embrace, "I'm your brother, for _Kami_'s sake, and you're my sister, whether by blood or not. I told you before, remember; you can always count on me to be there for you."

Hearing Naruto's declaration struck a chord in his sister's heart, causing the girl to tear up before she returned Naruto's hug with equal, if not greater vigor.

Minato looked upon the heartwarming sight with fondness before he noticed that there was something wet on his right shoulder…

"That's just soooooo…cute!"

"Kushina! Are you crying?" asked Minato, perplexed. His wife's head was buried in the gap between his neck and shoulder blades, leaking tears from her eyes like a waterfall.

"N-n-n-no, I…I ju-just got something in m-my eye," denied the fiery woman. Minato simply smiled at his wife's antics before rubbing the top of Kushina's head lovingly with his right hand.

* * *

><p>"Long time, no see, Nagato-chan…"<p>

The crippled Rinnegan-user's blessed eyes widened in complete shock as he register the new, unexpected presence in his hidden sanctuary. Who ever it was, the self-proclaimed god hadn't even sensed them coming. Acting quickly, Nagato gave an alert for his Deva Path and Konan to return to his side, and began preparing the defense mechanisms of his large mechanical chair.

"Who's there? And how did you infiltrate my private quarters?" questioned Nagato.

"Magic, alien technology, or super ninja-skills; pick your poison. And as for who I am," spoke the voice ominously before it's source, a man who's features were hidden by a majestic white, hooded cloak, emerged from the shadows, "Well, let's just say, I'm an old friend of yours. Remember me?"

A looked of startled recognition manifested on the Ame leader's face as he caught a glimpse of the cloaked man's eyes and recalled a certain incident that took place twelve years ago, "Y-You're that man; the Ri-Rikudou Hiraishin! You're the one who defeated Tobi!"

"Guilty as charged," said the Rikudou Hiraishin before he removed his hood, revealing his face to the other Rinnegan user, "Though frankly; I expected a much more difficult challenge from the same fucker who likes to cosplay as Uchiha Madara for a living."

"You…you look like the…"

"Yondaime Hokage; yeah, I get that a lot. It comes with the territory of being his twin brother after all."

'_So he's Namikaze Minato's brother; interesting. That explains the nickname and his skill, but why have I not heard of such a man until twelve years ago, and what has he been doing since then_,' mused Nagato inwardly.

"Have you come to kill me?" inquired the false Rikudou outwardly.

"Heavens, no! What a waste that would be; you just have so much potential in you, Nagato-chan," replied the Rikudou Hiraishin, who feigned being offended, "If I wanted to kill you, you'd have been dead a looooong time ago. And I would have leveled this lovely city of yours as part of the package."

"Then why are you here?"

"What? I can't say hello to an old friend? I'm hurt that you think that way, Nagato-chan."

"I'm not your friend!" bellowed the man behind Pain, "Now tell me what you're purpose here is, or else I will show you true pain!"

"Come on now, Mr. Makes Anorexic Supermodels Seem Obese, we've been over this before…you're so called "pain" doesn't really do anything but get me off. Selective masochism, remember?"

Nagato's only response was to scream in utter rage before he fired a chakra disruption rod from the mechanical apparatus he was plugged in to. The rod was larger than usual, about the size of a human forearm, with a sharp, chakra-lined edge that could cut through diamond. The chakra rod was shot at almost the speed of a rifle bullet, giving it immense force and momentum.

The lethal projectile took all of a millisecond to pierce the Rikudou Hiraishin's heart, as the blonde-haired enigma didn't even bother evading or deflecting the chakra rod.

"Tell me, Rikudou Hiraishin…was that painful?" asked Nagato smugly.

The time traveler with a humongous chakra rod imbedded in his chest simply shrugged before casually ripping the rod out of his heart with his bare hands, "Nope, not really. Unless you consider a slight tickling sensation as being painful, that is."

Nagato twitched in disbelief, "W-what the hell are you?"

"What am I, you say? I am a man who has quite the proposition for you? Care to hear it?"

"You want to make a deal with me?" asked Nagato warily, "Even after breaking into my private quarters, you're telling me that you want to make a deal with me?"

"Uh huh…"

"Do you honestly think I would even consider it after what you've done?"

"…yeah."

The paraplegic dojutsu-wielder rolled his eyes at the intruder; just communicating with the eccentric man was a chore in of itself. He was beginning to wonder what was taking Konan and Deva so long….

"If you're curious as to why those two haven't arrived yet," said the Rikudou Hiraishin, having read Nagato's mind with his Human Path ability, "It's because I completely halted the flow of the entire timestream, only leaving this room untouched. If you don't believe me, confirm it for yourself. Why don't you try checking up on your link to the Deva Path?"

Nagato gasped in shock while muttering something about being impossible and ridiculous, before he concentrated for a moment, which eventually led to him gasping in shock again when he confirmed the Rikudou Hiraishin's statement with his own eyes.

Noticing the dumbfounded expression on his fellow Rinnegan user's face, the Rikudou Hiraishin commented immediately, "Shocking isn't it; how something as ubiquitous and completely fundamental to existence as time itself can be stopped so easily by a man with nothing but special eyes and powerful chakra."

"Are you…a god?" questioned Nagato in complete astonishment.

"Am I…no, I'm not a god," replied the Rikudou Hiraishin, "I'm something even more. And like I said earlier, I have a proposition to make with you."

"Hmm, I'm listening now…not like I have much of a choice."

* * *

><p>"So let me get this straight," began Naruto, "I was really borne an only child, but on the day of my birth the Kyuubi attacks. Then after driving it out of the village, Dad tries to seal it inside <em>me<em> with a forbidden jutsu that will cost him his life. But, at the last minute, Uncle Choetsu shows up and transforms the Kyuubi into a baby girl, who eventually grows up to be Kurama."

"In a nutshell, basically," replied Minato, while Kushina nodded in the background.

"Ooooookaaaay…what the hell have I've been eating lately…"

"This isn't a hallucination, Naruto," spoke Kurama, "All of that really happened."

"I know…s-sorry…it's just so much t-to take in."

Kurama shuffled nervously in her seat; despite the fact that Naruto accepted her new status, she was still worried about her relationship with her brother and where it would go from now on. However, looking at the determined look on her brother's face gave her hope that he would keep their promise.

"Well then, now that Kurama's confession is over," said their father, "I think its time that you two begin your story."

The two siblings nodded and began their tale. Kurama started with the events taking place earlier in the day, at the academy. She talked about the graduation exam and how she wasn't feeling well, and then ended it with her failure to create a _bunshin_ along with the strange visions she had before passing it along to Naruto.

Naruto continued the story, telling them how he had snuck into the Hokage Building and knocked the Sandaime out with his _Oiroke no Jutsu_, which elicited a muffled laugh from Minato and chilling expressions of barely repressed fury and killing intent from the two female Namikazes. Finally, he ended his part with the exchange of the Forbidden Scroll between Kurama and him.

Kurama then went on to explain her learning of the Shadow Clone Technique, as well as her encounter with Iruka and Mizuki, and the circumstances that led to her finding out her secret. After that, Naruto gave a vivid recounting of his pursuit of Hinata, who had been kidnapped by Cloud shinobi, as well as his battle with Ruido the former Konoha turned Kumo nin. Minato seemed visibly impressed with Naruto's skills during the confrontation.

And lastly, Kurama ended the story with her run in with the strange, purple skinned man and her subsequent rescue thanks to her father.

"Wow, what a…what a night," whispered Kushina in awe after the tale was over.

"I'll say…you two haven't even become _chunin_ yet and you've already gone through such an ordeal," added Minato, "And you Naruto…you defeated a _jonin_, for _Kami's_ sake! I believed in you son, I really did, but I didn't think you were hiding this much power!"

"T-thanks, Tou-chan," replied Naruto, bashful from his father's praise, "I…I w-was…"

"Why were you hiding your skill, by the way? I'm curious," asked Kushina.

Naruto's eyes widened; he was expecting this question to be asked of him after what happened tonight. But he just couldn't think of a decent excuse. His cover would be blown no matter what.

"Its realy personal…d-do you think…do you think I could maybe, not…"

"You don't have to tell us tonight, Naruto," interrupted Minato, "We know you're tired; we all are. I think its time to call it a night."

"Yeah, it's almost two o'clock! And you both have a big day tomorrow," said Kushina, "Go and brush your teeth so you two can go to bed and finally get some rest after such a stressful evening."

"Yes, Mom!" chorused the two twins, both eager to finally get some snooze. Before they could leave however, Minato stopped them.

"Oh, before you go Naruto…I just want to let you know that…if it had been me instead of Sarutobi-sama guarding the scroll, your plan would have never worked," said the Yondaime with a playful smirk. The blonde-haired boy gave a wide grin in response, rising to his father's challenge.

"Oh, are you saying that my ultimate jutsu would have no effect on you?"

"Of course not!" replied Minato, "When I have someone as beautiful as your mother for a wife, there's no way that a cheap trick like that could possibly seduce me. I'm no Jiraiya-sensei."

Meanwhile, Kushina was swooning at Minato's compliment to her. "Oh, Minato, you're such a charmer," she said while her daughter simply looked on with utter disgust in the background.

"Oh yeah!" exclaimed Naruto, "Let's see if you can back that up, old man! _Oiroke no Jutsu_!"

The blonde prankster formed a sequence of hand seals before a cloud of smoke enveloped him. The smoke dispersed quickly, revealing a naked and buxom blonde woman with pigtails and whisker marks on her cheeks in Naruto's place. The naked vixen blew a kiss at Minato, attempting to catch him off guard with her charm.

Minato blushed a deep shade of red, but there was no blood gushing out of his nose, to Naruto's absolute frustration. Meanwhile, a vicious killing intent was starting to rise in the room, coming from a certain red-haired vixen.

With a poof of smoke, Naruto was back to normal with a pouting expression, "It really didn't work! Don't tell me you're gay, Dad!"

"He's not gay!" shrieked Kurama in rage, "He's just not a pervert like you!"

The angry female cocked her fist before smashing him hard with a chakra-enhanced punch, sending him crashing into the nearest wall. After colliding with the hapless wall, Naruto's body plopped helplessly to the floor, where the blonde boy laid in pain for a few moments.

"Good job, Kurama! That'll teach him!" exclaimed Kushina while clenching her fist and giving her daughter a shit-eating grin, "Honestly, how many times do I have to tell him; no perverted jutsus in the house!"

Naruto simply raised his arm weakly before saying, "In my defense, Tou-chan practically gave me an invitation to use my sexy jutsu."

"He's got a point," Minato said while chuckling, "And now we all know that even with your so-called "ultimate technique", you still wouldn't have been able to get past me."

"Hah! In your dreams! I still have one more trump card up my sleeves!" countered Naruto vigorously.

"Is that so?" taunted Minato playfully.

"Yup; I know your ultimate weakness, Dad!"

Minato's eyes widened nervously, '_Don't tell me he's talking about…_"

"The ramen we had yesterday night for dinner," began Naruto, "Doesn't it remind you of a certain…noodle incident?"

If Minato's eyes were wide before, now they were practically bulging out. The blonde haired man immediately froze up at the sound of the words "noodle incident" and started shaking uncontrollably. Then, all of sudden, the legendary _Kiiroi Senko_ and Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, Namikaze Minato collapsed unceremoniously on to the ground.

The grown man was now sprawled out onto the floor in a fetal position while going through a series of violent spasms and convulsions as he began muttering in sheer terror; like if he was experiencing a mind raping nightmare or being possessed by a sadistic demon.

Kushina and Kurama both watched the scene with their jaws wide opened, unable to comprehend the sheer ridiculousness of it all. Naruto, on the other hand, was trying his hardest to refrain from bursting out into maniacal laughter.

"D-did you just…turn the most powerful Hokage in village history into a sniveling wreck with just two words?" asked Kurama after finally regaining her voice, "What in the world is the "noodle incident" by the way?"

"Well, you see…this one time at Ichiraku's…"

"Actually, I'm probably better off not knowing," said Kurama, cutting him off.

"Ramen is my friend. Ramen is my friend. Ramen is my friend. Oh yes he is," babbled Minato insanely while suckling on his thumb, "W-wait, what are you…ramen? Ramen? What the hell are you doing? Stop! Please, stop it! THAT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO GO IN THERE!"

* * *

><p>"…so then you insert your male genitalia into her female genitalia and start thrusting, preferably getting faster and harder as she gets more comfortable with it until both of you org…"<p>

"WILL YOU JUST SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY, YOU SICK-MINDED BASTARD!" screamed a very much out of character Nagato. "I thought you were going to discuss your proposition, not give me a highly unnecessary lesson on human sexual intercourse!"

The Rikudou Hiraishin stared at him funnily, having just been interrupted in the middle of a speech.

"Oh, I'm sorry; I was just trying to help you sort out your issues as a show of good faith before we started talking about the deal," muttered the Yondaime look-alike with a hurt tone, "Geez, nobody ever appreciates it when I try to help out, and then they act all surprised when I screw them over for payback!"

"My…my issues; what the hell are you talking about?"

"Well, I figured that the only possible explanation for why you haven't tapped that lovely piece of ass you call Konan yet is that you never got sex ed in the first place," explained the Rikudou Hiraishin nonchalantly, "So I decided to give you a few pointers."

"W-what…that's ridiculous. I can't…I mean look at me," said the emaciated cripple.

"Oh don't give me that bullshit about being a cripple!" rebuked the blonde Rinnegan-user, "You have like six other goddamned bodies to choose from! By the way, your Deva Path is actually pretty attractive for a mind-controlled corpse, and that's coming from a completely heterosexual male."

"Are you mad? Why in the world would Konan allow six reanimated dead bodies do something like…that with her; even if they were being controlled by me?"

"I never said all six at the same time!" exclaimed the Rikudou Hiraishin, who was trying to hold back his laughter, "Damn your kinky, Nagato-chan."

Nagato promptly spluttered all over himself in disbelief, completely speechless and unable to respond. This eccentric man…was going to be a major handful.

"Well if you don't want my advice, you ungrateful codpiece, then we might as well get to the main course," grumbled the Rikudou Hiraishin, "I'm just going to assume that you felt the power of another Rinnegan awaken earlier today, am I right?"

Nagato nodded, "So that was a new Rinnegan user; I had a feeling. But what does it have to do with me?"

"I want you to train her."

Nagato's eyes widened in surprise, "What!"

"You heard me; you're crippled, Nagato, not deaf. The new Rinnegan user's name is Shizuka, and she is the princess of Nadeshiko, a minor, female-only ninja village near _Mizu no Kuni_, the Land of Water. I'm going to take her here with the permission of her fellow villagers, not that I need it, and then you're going to teach her how to master her new dojutsu," explained the blonde-haired enigma.

"Why don't you do it yourself; you're obviously a more skilled user of the Samsara eyes than me," argued the Ame leader.

"I'm awfully busy and I don't have the time to deal with this," lied the Rikudou Hiraishin, "And I feel like you would benefit her more as a sensei than I would."

"Fine; let's say that all of that is true," said Nagato, "What exactly is in it for me? How do I benefit from helping you?"

"Well, there's the joy of teaching a fellow human being. And plus, Shizuka's going to grow up to have some ridiculously succulent and amazing mammary organs one day, in the same league as the legendary Tsunade herself! I'm sure even someone with as little libido as yourself can at least appreciate something like that."

"No, give me a serious answer."

"Sigh, I don't do serious," replied the Rikudou Hiraishin, "But if you insist; I'm willing to offer you a little incentive if you decide to be Shizuka's mentor. It's what you've always wanted but have never been able to get."

"Peace?" said Nagato hopefully.

"Uh, no…that comes later," replied the blonde-haired man sheepishly, "I'm talking something more short termed, like right the fuck now!"

"What exactly do you have in mind?" asked Nagato while narrowing his eyes in a mixture of suspicious and curiosity.

"Total recovery of the use of your legs…and a little something-something for that emaciated body of yours; how does that sound?"

Nagato gaped in incredulity, "That sounds preposterous! The condition my body is in right now is because of the curse of the _Gedou Mazo_. Even with a Rinnegan, you can't just heal something like this."

"Oh, but your forgetting one key fact, Nagato-chan," said the eccentric blonde while stretching out his arms in a dramatic fashion. Nagato, in response, merely gives him a look of confusion, curiously awaiting his answer.

"I'm the Rikudou Hiraishin, baby!" declared the aforementioned Flying Thunder God as if just saying that allowed him to do the impossible. In his case, it probably did.

* * *

><p>Naruto stared at the ceiling of his bedroom in frustration due to his inability to fall asleep despite the fact that it was already very late and that he had an important day coming up in the morning.<p>

But he just couldn't help it; his mind was racing after everything that happened tonight. No matter how tired his body was, he just couldn't take that extra step into blissful unconsciousness. And the thing that addled his brain the most…was his own sister Kurama.

I mean, it isn't every day you learn that your twin sister who you have known and lived with your entire life is actually the reincarnation of a colossal, demonic furball that just so happened to have attacked your village when you had been borne.

Of course, that didn't change the way he thought of her; like he promised, Naruto would continue to always be there for her, through thick and thin. Kami knows that if the Kyuubi had been sealed within him rather than become transformed into a baby girl, Naruto would absolutely not want another person to shun him for it. He couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to live that way.

Suddenly, the door to his bedroom opened slowly with a drawn-out squeaking noise, revealing the form of the very object of his pondering. The red-haired, whisker faced vixen gently closed the door behind her before whispering, "Nii-san, are you awake?"

Naruto arose to an upright position in his bed while gazing at his sister's silhouette, "Yup, I'm awake. I actually can't sleep right now; there's just way to much stuff going on in my head."

"Same here," replied Kurama with a sigh, "That's why I came to your room. Do you…do you think I could…?"

"Yeah, of course!" said Naruto with a little too much volume, answering Kurama's unspoken question. The blonde-haired boy promptly lifted up the comforter on his mattress, making room and inviting his sister to join him in his bed.

The redhead did so, jumping onto his medium-sized bed and snuggling up to her brother warmly. Naruto blushed slightly; the two siblings had not slept in the same bed together for quite awhile.

"Thank you, Naruto-nii. I was having…nightmares," whispered Kurama while she pressed up against him, "I don't know how I would ever be able to get any sleep alone."

"Uh, what about Mom and Dad; didn't you try asking if you could sleep with them?"

"Are you kidding me; after what you did to Daddy," scoffed Kurama, "I checked their room and Mom's still trying to get him to calm down. Plus, even in a normal situation I wouldn't want to sleep in their room; you know what they get up to at night when they think we can't hear them."

"Of course I know. My room is even closer to theirs than yours," said Naruto with a shudder.

Noticing her brother's discomfort, Kurama quickly changed the subject, "So, how does it feel…we're going to be shinobi tomorrow; adults in the eyes of the village."

"Well, I can't really…describe how I feel right now. I mean, I honestly don't have a clue what's in store for us tomorrow," said Naruto while grinning brightly in the dark, "But I do know one thing for sure; the Namikaze twins are going to take the ninja world by storm, _dattebayo_!"

"Hmm, yeah, but we need to sleep first," replied Kurama cheerfully while wrapping her arms lovingly around her blonde-haired sibling, "I'm not taking anything by storm until I get my beauty sleep, so good night!"

"Good night to you too, sis…"

But the red-haired vixen had already dozed off; the most interesting day and night in her entire life so far was now over. Smiling softly, Naruto shut his eyes and thought about…absolutely nothing, simply allowing his mind to blank before the darkness finally took him.

* * *

><p>Hyuuga Hinata stared at the ceiling of her bedroom in frustration due to her inability to fall asleep despite the fact that it was already very late and that she had an important day coming up in the morning.<p>

But she couldn't stop thinking about a certain someone…who frankly had been the subject of many of her thoughts, some more inappropriate than others, for quite a long time. But now, after what had happened tonight, that certain someone was completely dominating every aspect of her mind, preventing her from truly dozing off.

The boy of her dreams, Namikaze Naruto, had just rescued her from a group of Kumo nin who had kidnapped her, taking out a jonin…a _jonin_ for Kami's sake! And he wasn't even a full-fledged ninja until today.

Naruto had been the dead last of their class, but Hinata, being the stalke-uh, observer that she was, knew that there was more to him than there first appeared to be. She knew he was strong, and it was always a mystery to her about why he would hide his skill level like that and take verbal abuse from his peers so readily.

But although she knew Naruto was secretly very strong…nothing she could ever imagine could even compare to the reality of the situation. The way he had fought the Kumo jonin who had kidnapped her; she was hard-pressed to believe that Sasuke or even Iruka-sensei would have been able to keep up.

Then there was that last exchange between the two; Hinata had been tumbling through the air, about to be skewered by the jonin's kunai when there was a yellow flash. The next thing she knew, she was safe in Naruto's arms and then her kidnapper was dead. It was unbelievable.

But nothing…nothing could possibly be engraved into her mind as thoroughly and memorably as those words that Naruto had uttered to her after the rescue; "Has anyone ever told you how pretty you are?" he said. He called _her_ pretty! It took all the willpower she could possibly muster to not faint at that point.

Damn it; if only that uncle of Naruto's hadn't interrupted the moment so abruptly!

* * *

><p>"Nagato, I got your alert! What hap…penned…to…you," exclaimed Konan while barging into her childhood friend's private quarters before completely losing her train of though due to the scene in front of her.<p>

There were two things that were exceptionally…strange about the picture that greeted the blue-haired paper user when she first entered the room.

The first was that Nagato, her emaciated and paraplegic but extremely powerful companion, was no longer attached at the hip (literally) to the mechanical apparatus acting as his life support and was instead standing upright, without a single facial bone visibly exposed.

The second was that there was a strange looking, yet familiar figure in the room dressed in a white hooded cloak with the hood down revealing his resemblance to the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha. After catching a glimpse of the man's unusual eyes, Konan had a gasp of recognition.

"Y-You…you're t-the…the…"

"Rikudou Hiraishin at your service, darling; and by service I mean copulation! 'Cuz obviously Mr. God Complex over there isn't gonna get to the fucking anytime soon and I would hate to waste such a marvelous body like yours," said the white cloaked man with a goofy wide smile on his face as he eyed the blue-haired angel lecherously.

If looks could kill, (then again, with the Uchiha you can never know), then the combined glares being directed at the perverted blonde by both Konan and Nagato would have given _Banbutsu Hakai_ a run for its money in terms of destructive capability.

"Ignore the fool, Konan, he just has an obsession with annoying other individuals to the point of insanity," said Nagato.

"But why is here?" asked Konan curiously, "And why…why are you walking, Nagato?"

Nagato blinked at her a few times before replying, "It's all…part of a deal we made, together."

"A deal?"

"Yup, yup, yup, a deal," said the Rikudou Hiraishin, "I made a little proposition for Nagato-chan and he accepted. And I didn't even have to blackmail or threaten him; I feel so accomplished. I mean look at me, the great Rikudou Hiraishin, master of persuasion!"

"W-What does this…deal entail?" asked Konan, ignoring the eccentric Rikudou's off-topic digressions.

"The deal was that, in exchange for the recovery of the use of my legs as well as the rejuvenation of my body," explained Nagato, "I would have to teach a new Rinnegan user how to master her dojutsu."

Konan gave a look of shock at his words before replying, "A new Rinnegan user? So you were right about earlier! And she's a woman?"

"A twelve year old girl actually, "clarified the Rikudou Hiraishin, "but in a few years she's gonna have even bigger tatas than you, although I can't really tell underneath that ominous cloak of yo-…"

Konan abruptly interrupted the blonde Rinnegan-user mid-sentence with a swift toss of her paper shuriken, pinning him to a wall. The origami artist flickered forward before reappearing directly in front of the source of her annoyance. Then she took out a kunai and held it to the Rikudou Hiraishin's neck dangerously.

"Rikudou Hiraishin or not, I don't take well to lecherous comments about me, especially not in front of Nagato," whispered Konan threateningly. The Yondaime look-alike simply returned her gaze with a goofy grin still intact on his face, not even phased at all by the woman's threats.

"Damn your kinky, girl, pinning me to the wall like this. You and Nagato-chan are pretty much made for each other," said the Rikudou Hiraishin, "And I would definitely love to get my freak on with you right now, but unfortunately, I would have had a hard time performing with Nagato watching us all creepy-like in the background. So, I'll just have to pass. I wouldn't want you to think me…inadequate, after all."

Konan simply gaped; she was at a loss for words. The peculiar individual's comment caught her off-guard; she was used to people cowering in fear when she threatened them, not talking back to her in a perverted manner. What happened next, however, completely unhinged her.

The Rikudou Hiraishin's Rinnegan eyes suddenly shifted, becoming twin irises of ominous crimson light containing ten black _tomoe_. Then he walked forward casually and…phased, for lack of a better term, through not only the paper shuriken pinning him but through her as well, causing her to shiver when the man walked straight through her like a ghost.

Turning around, Konan caught a glimpse of his eyes again, and found that they were once again his sapphire Rinnegan.

"T-that was one of T-Tobi's _jikukan ninjutsus_," stammered Nagato in astonishment, having likewise witnessed the entire scene.

"Yes; it's real name is _Kamui _actually, specifically the right-eyed version, which is also called _Jikukan Ido_ to distinguish it from the left-eyed version," explained the Rikudou Hiraishin, "Kamui is one of the ten sets of abilities that can be granted by the Mangekyo Sharingan, although most Mangekyo-user can only obtain one of these sets at a time."

"There are…ten Mangekyo techniques?" questioned Nagato curiously.

"Yeah, one for each tail of the Juubi; you do know that the Sharingan came from the Ten Tails, don't you?"

"I thought they were descended from the Rinnegan of the original Rikudou Sennin."

"Well, that too, but somewhere in the ages the Juubi's corrupt will and chakra got mixed in, which is why the Sharingan is so evil-looking," said the blonde, "But enough of that; let's put the finishing touches on this deal of ours already. As much as I would like to stay and chat, I have much better things to do."

"I assume that you will be bringing this…Shizuka here?" asked Nagato.

"Yes, of course. But before I do that, I would like to add something."

"What is it?"

"How would you like it," began the True Rikudou, "If I returned your body to its prime."

Nagato's eyes widened, "W-What do…what do you mean?"

"I mean just what I say; even though I gave you back your legs and made it so you don't look like a twig anymore, your body is still weakened from being stuck in an over-glorified wheelchair for over twelve years. When I'm done with you, you'll be as strong and as powerful as you could ever be; with your full potential unlocked!"

"C-can you really do that?" inquired Konan in doubt.

The Rikudou Hiraishin just looked at her like she was crazy, "Uh, hello, do you know who you're talking to? I'm the Rik-…"

"Yes, we know you're the Rikudou Hiraishin!" exclaimed Nagato, cutting him off, "And we know that that somehow means you can do the impossible. So please just stop saying it over and over again!"

"Uh sure, whatever killjoy," grumbled the blonde, "So are you interested or not?"

"If you return me to my prime," said Nagato, "What's the catch? I'm sure you're not just going to rejuvenate me for free."

"You catch on quick," said the Rikudou Hiraishin with a smirk, "In exchange for this last service, I want you to ally yourselves and your village with the Hidden Leaf."

"K-Konoha, but t-that village," said Nagato, utterly surprised, "Do you have any idea what that village has done to me!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know all about your parents and that Yahiko dude. But trust me when I say that all of your troubles were a result of the actions of just one man from Konoha: Shimura Danzo. And he's the last person that anyone would look to as a model for Konoha's morals and values."

"Even so; I can't just become friendly with that village and pretend nothing ever happened!"

"Sure you can! And let me remind you; I'm still working on our previous agreement from twelve years ago. I still plan on brining you the peace you truly desire, this is just one phase of it; if you choose to reject me, than you're only denying yourself and your own happiness."

Nagato stared at him with a look of hesitation, "I…let me think about it, please."

"Of course, of course; ponder all you want. But choose wisely. Or do you really want to become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone?" replied the Rikudou Hiraishin in a strange accent, "Oh damn, I'm really rocking this Ken Watanabe shit; next thing you know I'll be buying out entire airlines just 'cuz it would be neat!"

Nagato and Konan looked at him like he was crazy, which in retrospect was probably true.

"Um, kindly ignore that last part," said the blonde sheepishly, "I'm gonna go fetch Shizuka-chan now. And by the way; the name's Uzumaki Choetsu, just in case you were wondering."

* * *

><p>Shizuka woke up to the feel of a hand lightly shaking her to consciousness. Groggily, the raven-haired princess rubbed the sleep from her eyes before sitting up, when suddenly the events of the previous night hit her hard.<p>

Her lover Sagiri had died right in front of her very eyes, triggering the awakening of a powerful ability within her. In her rage, this new power went out of control and obliterated her beloved village, causing the girl more grief before a strange man who looked like Yondaime Hokage showed up and began comforting her.

Then, he did the impossible, resurrecting all of the villagers she had killed unintentionally before rebuilding the entire village from scratch with his ninjutsu. It had been a lot to take for the girl, and her nerves were completely shot to hell. When the ordeals of that day were over and Shizuka was finally able to go to sleep, her mind immediately departed from the land of the waking before her head had even made contact with the pillows.

"Good morning, Shizuka-chan," said a cheerful voice right next to her, "And welcome to the beginning of the rest of your life!"

Turning towards the sound, Shizuka discovered it to be the blonde man from yesterday who called himself the Rikudou Hiraishin. But later on she was able to learn his real name, which was…

"Ah, C-Choetsu-san, good morning," said the still-half asleep princess before glancing at her alarm clock, "What are you doing here so early?"

"It's time…" said Choetsu with a shit-eating grin on his face. Shizuka's eyes widened; she knew exactly what he was talking about, as the contents and terms of their deal had been explained to her and the rest of the villagers the previous night.

"Already; but I just woke up!" whined Shizuka, "Can I at least have some time to pack up?"

"Oh there's no need for that; I'll bring along all the things you need after you have met your new sensei," replied the Rikudou Hiraishin.

"My…new sensei; but I thought you were going to teach me."

"Sorry no, but I'm a little too busy with other matters to be teaching you myself," explained the blonde-haired Rinnegan user, "But don't fret; the guy I got to be your teacher is pretty good himself. In fact, why don't we go see him right now…"

Shizuka was just about to say something when Choetsu suddenly took his right thumb and middle finger before giving a loud, resounding snap. Then, their surroundings shifted in an instant; one moment they were in Shizuka's bedroom, the next they were on top of a towering citadel overlooking a sprawling, highly-industrialized, steam punk city.

Shizuka was so startled that she had almost fallen off the tower in panic, but thankfully Choetsu was able to catch her in time. The girl remained speechless, unable to comprehend the fact that she had just been teleported half way across the continent with a single snap. Then she noticed that it was raining heavily around them, but she didn't feel wet.

Looking up, the girl saw that the rain drops were bending around her and Choetsu, as if there was an invisible umbrella above them. She knew instantly that the enigmatic blonde was responsible.

"Welcome, Shizuka, to Amegakure no Sato," said Choetsu, "The Village Hidden in the Rain."

* * *

><p>Namikaze Kurama woke up the next morning feeling like a totally new person; completely rested and rejuvenated despite the fact that she had actually gotten so little sleep last night. It didn't take her long to notice that she was in Naruto's bed alone, and that her brother must have awoken before her.<p>

The red-haired girl got out of bed before stretching a bit, then making her way to the bedroom door. Opening the door, she found herself face to face with her blonde-haired twin, who was in the middle of knocking.

"Oh, morning nii-san," greeted the redhead cheerfully, "Did you need something?"

"Uh, not really, I was just gonna wake you up because Tou-chan said he wanted to talk to you," replied Naruto, "He said it was important."

Kurama looked puzzled, "Daddy wants me; for what? And is he okay? After, well…you know."

"Oh, he's perfectly fine! He keeps muttering something about "ninja therapists" and "evil ramen" but other than that and some wounded pride he's all good."

"That's excellent! I would have seriously mutilated you if Daddy went insane from what you did," said Kurama with a creepy smile on her face, causing the blonde prankster to nearly wet himself. Why did all the females in his family have to be so scary?

"Umm, y-yeah, it's a good thing he didn't or else I would have been screwed, hehe," replied Naruto nervously, "Anyways, I think I should really be going right about now…"

The sister/mother-fearing twelve-year old made a break for it, trying to walk away from the scene while remaining as inconspicuous as possible in an attempt to evade his terrifying sibling before she went bonkers.

Now left alone, the vixen blinked at her brother's strange behavior before making her way to her father's private study.

* * *

><p>"Did you need me for something, Daddy," asked Kurama after opening the door to Minato's office. The blonde Hokage was looking over what seemed to be important documents when she barged in, and like Naruto said there was no sign of his nervous breakdown from the night before. Kurama waited hesitantly at the door for her father's permission to fully enter the room.<p>

"Yes, come in, Kurama," said the Yondaime, "I just need to check up on your seal."

"My seal…but I thought I was the Kyuubi itself, not a _jinchuuriki_," asked Kurama in confusion, "Why would I have a seal?"

Minato smiled at her before going into a long explanation of how, despite the fact that she was the reincarnated Nine-Tailed Fox itself, she still needed a seal to contain her chakra. Kurama's fragile human body would not be able to withstand the full power of the Kyuubi until she received the proper training, so her Uncle Choetsu devised a powerful seal to keep the demonic chakra at bay until then.

Kurama's seal, unlike the seals of ordinary _jinchurikis_ which contained both the souls and chakra of their demon, merely acted like a limiter that prevented her body from being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of chakra she really had.

Minato then went on to explain how the seal had somehow loosened during the genin exam, and the sudden influx of her demonic chakra caused the girl to lose control of her ninjutsu. Finally, her father asked her to lift her shirt and focus chakra to her stomach, causing the complex sealing array to appear on her belly.

Forming a series of hand seals, Minato took his palm and placed it on Kurama's seal with gentle affection, before a sharp, but brief pain resonated through Kurama's body. The girl gave a shriek, but the pain was gone as fast as it had came, leaving a feeling of euphoria afterwards.

"There, I fixed the seal," said Minato, "Now your chakra control is back to normal."

His daughter gave him a wide smile before pulling the blonde-haired adult into a warm embrace.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!"

* * *

><p>After showering and eating breakfast, the two siblings were ready to go. They gave their parents a quick farewell before heading out the door and making their way to the studio where they would get their pictures taken.<p>

Naruto had the bright idea to cover himself in vibrant face and body paint for his "unique" photo, which in the future, would draw plenty of laughs from Minato and plenty of anger and frustration from Kushina. After the pictures, Naruto and Kurama had an encounter with a boy named Konohamaru who had tried to "assassinate" the old Sandaime, his own grandfather, but had ended up tripping on his own scarf.

Despite an initial argument between the two with Kurama in the middle trying to diffuse it, Naruto and Konohamaru quickly warmed up to each other. The former Hokage's grandson begged Naruto to teach him how to be a strong ninja, declaring that he was tired of being called the "Honorable Grandson" all the time and wanted to become Hokage one day and surpass his grandfather.

The boy's heartfelt declaration pulled on Naruto's heartstrings, who had experience similar situations with living in the shadows of a kage, and immediately took off to a training ground with his new protégé, with Kurama hesitantly in tow.

Not long afterwards, a _Tokubetsu jonin_ tutor who called himself Ebisu showed up and interrupted his lesson, and would have stopped it completely if Naruto hadn't knocked out the closet pervert with his new Harem jutsu. Needless to say, after the technique faded away, Kurama gave her brother the beating of a lifetime.

After finally saying goodbye to Konohamaru, the two Namikaze siblings made their way to the academy.

"This is it, Kurama," said Naruto, filled determination, "Are you ready?"

The red-haired vixen gave her brother a nod of confirmation. Looking at the front gates of Konoha's Ninja Academy, Kurama couldn't help but wonder about the irony of the situation. Twenty-four long hours ago, she had arrived at the academy a little girl who was unaware of her real identity and unsure of what the future had in store for her.

Twenty-four long hours later, she was now arriving at the academy as a genin, an adult in the eyes of the village. She was now aware of her true origins, and although she still wasn't sure of what the future would hold, she would face it with confidence nonetheless.

But she would not face it alone.

Turning towards her blonde-haired brother, Kurama said confidently, "Here we go, Nii-san. Let's take the world by storm."

TBC

A.N. And there you go, Chapter 10. Sorry I didn't get to Team 7 this week, but next chapter I promise. And yes, Konan and Nagato are officially good guys right now. Also, that "Ken Watanabe shit" is a reference to Saito from Inception, for those of you who couldn't tell.

Takamagahara means "high heavenly plains", and is a location in Japanese mythology. I used it as an original Shinto-based name for Tobi's version of Kamui, in order to better distinguish it from Kakashi's Kamui. AKA Jikukan Ido, as it was mentioned in the chapter. Also, the other nine Mangekyo techniques that Choetsu mentioned will all be revealed along the way, but just as a heads up, Amaterasu/Kagatsuchi, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo are all part of the ten. Most of the others are also canon, with a few original ones mixed in that I made up.

By the way, am I the only one noticing that my chapter lengths are getting progressively longer and longer?

Now for my Original Character Profiles!

Choetsu Uzumaki

Titles/Aliases:Rikudou Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God of Sixth Paths),Hachidaime Hokage (Eighth Fire Shadow),Shodai Kamikage (First Divine Shadow)

Birthdate: December 25

Gender: Male/Transcendant Being

Age: Immortal (Note: Even before his ascension, Choetsu was biologically immortal due to being the perfect jinchuuriki of the Juubi)

Kekkei Genkai: Too many to list.

Nature Type: Too many to list.

Jutsus/Techniques: Are you kidding me?

Occupation: Kamikage, True Rikudou, Transcendant Being

Ninja Rank: Kage (pre-ascension)

Academy Entrance Age:4

Academy Graduation Age:5

Tokubetsu Jonin Promotion Age:6

Jonin Promotion Age:12

Jonin Commander Promotion Age:24

Hokage Inauguration Age:50

Hokage Retirement Age:80

Kamikage Inauguration Age:100

Family: Megami Uzumaki (Wife),Naruto Uzumaki (Father),? Uzumaki (Mother),Haruka Uzumaki (Sister),Kazama Uzumaki (Brother),Minato Namikaze (Grandfather),Kushina Uzumaki (Grandmother)


	12. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I...don't...own...Naruto...for...the...last...time...

Author's Note: Just in case, I do not condone any instances of sadistic female domination in this fic. You'll know what I'm talking about when you read this chapter...

Chapter 11: Don't You Just Love Hiraishin

Hearing a knock at the front door, Kushina immediately set down the plates she was rinsing at the time and went to answer it. After opening the door, the Hokage's wife was greeted cheerfully by the old Sandaime, Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"Oh _jiji_! It's nice to see you," said Kushina warmly, "What can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for Minato-kun," answered the retired shinobi, "With news of his return spread like wildfire, the council is clamoring for a meeting with him."

"Ah, Minato is…" turning back, the crimson-haired mother found an empty foyer, "Oh that's funny. I could have sworn that Minato was right behind me, muttering something about getting a tan. Hmm, lemme go check the house. Feel free to wait in the living room, old man, while I get my darling husband."

The Sandaime did just that, choosing to relax in a comfortable recliner while his successor's wife called out her husband's name and began searching through the various rooms of the house.

Over ten minutes later, Kushina had searched all of the rooms in the large manor, finding herself empty-handed. After returning, she addressed Hiruzen with an apologetic expression.

"I'm sorry, Sarutobi-ji-chan," began Kushina, "I can't seem to find Minato anywhere. Maybe he left the house?"

"That's fine; I'll try and look for him around the village. Thank you for your time Kushina, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the day," replied Hiruzen before taking off.

"You too, old man, and I hope you find Minato. I really wonder where he is sometimes…"

* * *

><p>Somewhere on an abandoned tropical island which was halfway across the world from Konoha…<p>

"I LOVE HIRAISHIN!" exclaimed one Namikaze Minato as he tanned on a scenic, white sand beach next to one of his special kunai.

* * *

><p>The two Namikaze twins; Naruto and Kurama, walked into their academy classroom for the last time with an air of determination and confidence to them. Upon noticing their arrival, more specifically Kurama's arrival, many of their peers who were already in the room began whispering amongst themselves.<p>

Just as Kurama was about to take her seat, a girl called out to her, who for the love of _Kami_ she could not remember the name of.

"Umm, Kurama-san; I was just wondering what you were doing in class," said the girl, "Only those who graduated are supposed to be here."

Kurama simply smiled and pointed at the _hitae-ate_ on her forehead, which promptly shut the girl up. After the small incident, Kurama took her seat and waited for class to begin.

Meanwhile, Naruto was in his own seat when he noticed the arrival of Haruno Sakura, a girl he had been attracted to for quite awhile.

'_Sakura-chan is pretty cute…but she's not even close to Hinata-chan, after what I saw last night_,' mused Naruto inwardly. Speaking of the timid girl, Naruto found the heiress sitting quitely by herself in one of the corners of the class. Turning to look towards her, the blonde-haired Namikaze gave Hinata an endearing smile, causing the girl to blush tremendously before hesitantly returning the gesture.

Turning towards his left, Naruto found that the seat next to him was occupied by one Uchiha Sasuke, who looked as arrogant and aloof as ever. The Hokage's son frowned at their proximity; he was still a bit pissed at Sasuke for hurting his sister during their spar yesterday.

As time passed by, Naruto watched as more of his fellow classmates who had passed arrived; some were friends, some were strangers, and even some were downright enemies. Some of the most notable of his peers were his friends Nara Shikamaru, who was sleeping with his head down, and Akimichi Choji, snacking on a bag of chips.

Then there was that annoying blonde Yamanaka Ino who was one of his most prevalent fangirls. She tried to flirt with him immediately, but thankfully got distracted when she got in a verbal catfight with her best friend/enemy Sakura, who was Sasuke's fangirl.

There was also that weird, quite kid; Aburama Shino. Shino wore a high-collared, light grey trench coat that covered up everything but the top half of his face. He also wore sunglasses and had brown hair and pale skin. Naruto didn't really talk to him all that often, but the guy was pretty talented. Overall, Shino was pretty cool.

Finally, there was that annoying mutt…

"Hey, Naruto, you blonde asshole; you never answered my question from yesterday!"

Speak of the devil.

Turning towards the source of his annoyance, Inuzuka Kiba, Naruto quickly replied, "What the hell do you want, dog-breath?"

"YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHAT I WANT!" raged Kiba before the dog lover aggressively grabbed Naruto by his collar. Naruto didn't flinch one bit. Meanwhile, many of the other students were gathered around the area, eagerly watching the rising enmity between Kiba and Naruto.

"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about?"

"Don't play dumb!" exclaimed the Inuzuka heir, "What the fuck did you do to Kurama-chan yesterday during the graduation exam?"

"I didn't do squat; are you seriously accusing me of sabotaging my own sister?" replied Naruto coolly, "And besides; even if I did, it wouldn't matter, because just in case you haven't noticed my sister managed to pass anyways and is in the classroom right now."

Kiba grinned, "Hah, don't try to point out the obvious! Of course I noticed that Kurama-chan is here; how could I not notice such a damn fine bitch like her!"

A few rows away, a certain red-haired vixen popped a blood vessel in her temple…

"Umm, Kiba; normally I would be kicking your ass right now for saving that about my sister, but I have a feeling that it would be highly unnecessary. And for what its worth, I completely understand, more than anyone, what kind of pain you're about to go through right now," said Naruto with a shudder of dread coursing through him. Kiba simply looked at him in confusion.

"What are you tal-…huh? All of a sudden, I sensed that something bad was about to happen to me," muttered Kiba before feeling someone tap him on the shoulder. Turning around, the doomed boy found himself face to face with one, extremely irate Kurama.

"Oh, h-hey there, Kurama-chan," stammered Kiba as he shivered while feeling waves of killing intent rolling off of the girl's presence, "Y-You look as hot as ever."

"There's something that you really need to get in that thick skull of yours, Kiba," said the enraged redhead while cracking her knuckles.

"W-what would that b-be?"

"Never piss off a Namikaze female…we are scary as fuck…"

The unfortunate Inuzuka's screams were heard throughout the entire village.

* * *

><p>"Now that you have all passed the graduation exam, today is the day that you begin your career as ninja of the Hidden Leaf," began Umino Iruka as he addressed his entire graduating class, "But don't think you can slack off; the hard part comes next."<p>

The newly christened shinobi listened intently as their teacher gave one, final speech to them, while a certain dog lover was whimpering in the corner covered in massive bruises and numerous bumps.

"You are now _genin_; rookies who need still need guidance," continued Iruka, "For this reason, all of you will be placed in three-man squads with a _jonin-sensei_ to lead you in the field. You will be given tasks called "missions" to complete for the benefit of the village, and you will follow all of your jonin-sensei's commands and instructions while you are on these missions. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Iruka-sensei!" replied the entire class with resounding oneness.

"Good, I'll assign you to your teams and jonin instructors immediately," said the scarred _chunin_, "Each team is balanced based on your overall grade in the class, so don't expect to be paired with your best friends."

Iruka's statement caused a series of whining and disappointment throughout the classroom.

'_I better be on the same team as my sis, or else heads will be rolling, Iruka-sensei_!" thought Naruto, '_It would be great if Hinata or Sakura were on my team though_.'

'_As long as I'm on the same team as Nii-san and not on a team with dog-breath or that guy Sasuke, I should be fine_,' thought Kurama.

'_Please be with Naruto-kun, please be with Naruto-kun, please be with Naruto-kun_,' pleaded a certain Hyuuga heiress desperately inside her mind.

'_Tchh, teams; what a pain in the ass, Itachi-nii-san never had to deal with this crap. They'll only hold me back_,' thought Uchiha Sasuke, '_I especially don't want to be on a team with the dobe or his bitch of a sister_.'

'_I hope I get to be with Sasuke-kun_,' thought Sakura before her "inner" personality took over, '_**If he's not on my damn team I swear I'm gonna punch someone! SHANNARO**_!"

'_Troublesome_,' thought you-know-who.

While this was going on, Iruka was reading off the list of teams. Naruto dozed off during the first five, but hearing Sakura's name called for the sixth caught his attention.

"…then we have Team 6 including Haruno Sakura, Yamada Jiro and…Hoshino Daisuke, " said Iruka, causing Naruto slight disappointment at not getting on a team with the attractive cherry blossom, "Your jonin-sensei is Uchiha Yosho."

Meanwhile, Sakura slumped down on to her desk in utter discontent, frustrated with her team placement, '_**Damn it! Sasuke-kun was supposed to be mine!**_'

'_That's odd_,' thought Sasuke, '_I didn't know Uncle Yosho was a jonin-sensei, or anyone from my clan for that matter_.'

"Next we have Team 7; Namikaze Naruto, Namikaze Kurama," said Iruka, prompting the two twins to look at each other with shit-eating grins on their faces, "and Uchiha Sasuke. You're instructor is Hatake Kakashi."

Both Naruto and Kurama were content with their team (although Kurama was a little miffed at Sasuke being there, but she could live with it as long as she had her brother), but Sasuke on the other hand was silently seething. Of all the people he could be teamed up with, it was the two he absolutely did not want.

He was not the only one in the room disappointed at the roster of Team 7, however; one Hyuuga Hinata was currently wracked with displeasure at the fact that she wouldn't be on the same team as her crush.

"Team 8 will consists of Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, and Kiba Inuzuka," said the chunin instructor, alerting the downcast Hyuuga when her name was called, "Your instructor will be Yuuhi Kurenai."

'_Well, I may not have been placed with Naruto-kun, but I can't say I don't like my current team. Shino-san doesn't seem to bad_,' mused Hinata inwardly, '_I don't know about Kiba-san though…I'm somewhat mad at him for the way he treats Naruto-kun and his sister._'

The Byakugan user turned towards her two new teammates and caught their glances; Shino simply nodded in response while Kiba gave her a goofy smirk, revealing his rather developed canines; as expected of an Inuzuka. The puppy, Akamaru, on top of his hooded head gave a low woof in delight.

"Team 9 in still currently active, so the final team today will be Team 10," finished Iruka, "Akimichi Choji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino. Your jonin-sensei is Sarutobi Asuma…"

* * *

><p>After the 9 genin squads of three individuals in each team were chosen, all of the 27 newly graduated shinobi were given a break before they got to meet their jonin-senseis. Some of the new genin choose to head home for food and sleep before they had to return, while others decided to hang out around the academy or wander in the immediate vicinity.<p>

"So what do ya' think of our team, huh, Kurama?" inquired Naruto while holding the back of his head with his hands.

"Well, we're still together, so I'm happy about that. Even though our third member has to be that stuck-up Uchiha," answered Kurama, currently leaning against one of the academy's walls.

"Haha yeah, I feel you. Sasuke-teme better not ruin anything with that humongous stick up his ass," said Naruto while chuckling, "But at least we got Kakashi-nii as our jonin-sensei!"

"I know; Kakashi-nii is a pretty cool guy," said Kurama, "I've never seen him fight, but I'm sure he's really strong since he's a jonin and Daddy was the one who taught him."

"Actually, I've seen him training before; when we were running away during one of our pranks, the Aomori incident I think, and we split up. I accidently ended up in the same clearing as Kakashi-nii and saw him training," said Naruto, "He had this really awesome lightning jutsu! He's a total pervert though, and he's completely open about it!"

"What! You mean Kakashi-nii!" stammered a baffled Kurama, "No way; he's an elite shinobi, there's no way a ninja of his status would stoop so low. "

"Oh come on, have you seen that book he always carries around; it's the same exact book that Ero-Sennin writes. Speaking of the old toad; he's the perfect example of a super strong ninja who is also, at the same time, a complete pervert."

"Damn you're right; that is the same book. My respect for Kakashi-nii has just gone way down."

"Hehe, I'm sorry for ruining whatever admiration you had for your new jonin-sensei," said Naruto, causing Kurama's eyes to bug out, "I mean, now that he's our instructor…we're going to be spending a lot of time with him and that book of his…"

"NOOOOOO! My new sensei is a pervert!" exclaimed Kurama in utter despair, causing her brother to sweatdrop comically.

* * *

><p>"Kaa-san, I'm home," called Uchiha Sasuke as he walked into his immediate family's section of the Uchiha Clan Compound. He was greeted by the sight of his beautiful mother, Mikoto, who was currently dusting some heirlooms in the living room. The smell of lunch wafted throughout the room, originating from the kitchen. The aroma caused Sasuke's stomach to grumble softly.<p>

"Oh, Sasuke; I was wondering when you would get back," greeted the mother of two cheerfully with a smile on her face, "How was your first day as a ninja?"

"Boring so far; all we did was get assigned to our three-man squads. In a few hours I have to go back to the academy to meet my jonin-sensei, so I'm just going to eat and take a short nap before I leave."

"Ah, I see. Who's going to be on your team?"

"Naruto and Kurama, Mom," answered the raven-haired twelve-year old, "And our sensei is some guy named Hatake Kakashi."

Mikoto's eyes widened slightly at the mention of the two Namikaze twins, '_So you're children are on the same team as my Sasuke huh…maybe that means we should think about finally reconciling, eh, Kushina_.'

"Hey Mom, are you alright," spoke Sasuke, rousing Mikoto from her private thoughts, "You were kind of out of it for a second there."

"O-oh, its nothing; just remembering stuff from the past," said the Uchiha matriarch, "Speaking of the past, do you still remember when I used to take you on those play dates with Naruto-kun and Kurama-chan when you were a little kid?"

"Yeah, I do unfortunately; that girl Kurama was always so…aggressive when we were younger," said Sasuke with a shiver, eliciting a muffled giggle from his mother.

"Namikaze Kurama; such a fiery personality," commented Mikoto with a far-off look, '_Just like her mother_.'

Noticing the nostalgic expression on his mother's face, Sasuke decided to change the subject. "Where's Itachi-nii?" he asked.

"Your older brother left earlier today," answered Mikoto, "He said he was busy with work; being the commander of all the ANBU is a tough job after all."

Sasuke pouted, an expression that one would not find outside of the confines of the raven-haired boy's home, "But it was supposed to be his day off today. He said he would teach me more jutsus; why does Itachi always bail on me?"

"You don't need Itachi's help to learn new jutsu," said a stern, new voice, "You are an Uchiha, and most importantly, you are my son. If you can't learn a few new jutsus on your own, well, then there's a problem, Sasuke."

The new genin's eyes widened, recognizing the voice to be his own father's. Turning around, the boy came face to face with the harsh, unforgiving gaze of Uchiha Fugaku.

"H-Hello, Otou-san," greeted the boy tentatively.

"I receive the final grades and your ranking in the academy today. You were ranked second best in the entire class; after Namikaze Kurama," said the Uchiha clan head, "I expected better from you."

"Come on now, Fugaku. Don't be so harsh," said Mikoto, lightly berating her husband, "Second place is still very good, and it isn't a shame to lose to the Hokage's daughter."

The head of the Uchiha gave his wife a disapproving look while frowning before the man took a seat on the floor. Sasuke knew what was coming next; his father would chew him out for not being as good as he wanted him to be, and then he would probably mention something about Itachi. It was always something about Itachi. Itachi, Itachi, Itachi, Itachi; that's all the man ever cared about.

"Being the Hokage's daughter doesn't mean much of anything; the Namikaze family isn't a prestigious clan like ours. Look at young Naruto, the Yondaime's son. Despite his lineage, he is the dead last of his graduating class," said Fugaku.

'_Being the dead last didn't stop the dobe from beating me in that taijutsu match_,' mused Sasuke inwardly, '_I still haven't figured out how he was able to move so fast. Maybe it was a fluke_.'

"You on the other hand, Sasuke," continued Fugaku, "are an Uchiha. We are the most powerful, most prestigious, most talented clan of shinobi in all of Konoha. _All_ of our members who become ninja are elite; the very best at what they do and always the top of their classes. I won't allow you to become the exception. Why, at your age, Itachi was…"

"Don't compare me to Nii-san!" exclaimed Sasuke abruptly, cutting his father off, "I don't know if you're aware of this, but, I'M NOT ITACHI ! And I never will be!"

After his little outburst, the twelve-year old stomped off into another room, leaving his astonished father behind. Fugaku had never seen his son act this way, and he was just about to call Sasuke out on his disrespect when his wife gave him a glare and shook her head. Frowning again, the Uchiha clan leader got up and went outside the house, deciding that he would get some fresh air.

Meanwhile, Sasuke had retreated to the confines of his bedroom before locking the door. Fugaku's second son collapsed on to his bed chest faced downwards while sulking into one of his pillows. He felt absolutely infuriated; he was tired of always being compared to his brother and always coming up short. Although he loved his brother, sometimes Sasuke wished that Itachi was a terrible shinobi, that way the younger sibling could shine for once in his father's eye.

But that would never happened; Uchiha Itachi was the ANBU Commander. Sasuke's older brother was one of the strongest ninja in the entire village, maybe even the strongest after the Hokage. He excelled in every aspect of shinobi combat, but he was legendary in the field of _genjutsu_. His analytical skills and strategic/tactical prowess were nearly unparalleled, only surpassed by Nara Shikaku, the Jonin Commander, and once again, the Hokage himself.

There were many rumors that if Namikaze Minato ever retired, Itachi was the most likely to succeed him as the Godaime Hokage. But the Yondaime was still young, a few years short of 40, so it would be awhile before there was a possibility of that happening. And no one in Konoha believed it was possible for the Yellow Flash to actually die in combat; the man was practically untouchable.

Getting up from his bed, Sasuke started rummaging around his messy bedroom in search of something. He searched underneath his bed, in his closet, in the numerous drawers around his room and finally, at his desk. It took him about ten minutes, but he eventually found what he was looking for there. It was a drawing.

Sasuke had drawn it; it was rather crude as the boy wasn't much of an artist, but he could tell what it was trying to portray. The drawing was a picture of him in ANBU-esque armor with a bow and arrow in his hands, while his brother Itachi was standing next to him with a katana. In the background was a giant, wild boar.

The picture was a child's illustration of a mission that Itachi allowed him to participate in a few years back. The two siblings were hunting a giant boar that had been menacing the countryside, and Itachi gave him the honor of killing the boar with his arrow while the elder brother distracted it. Sasuke missed.

It was one of his most humiliating but at the same time his most exultant memory. Even though he had failed, Sasuke was immensely proud of himself and the fact that he was able to fight alongside his brother.

Hopefully, next time he wouldn't miss.

* * *

><p>Naruto opened the door to the classroom before holding it open and politely allowing his sister to walk in. When the blonde boy himself had entered the room, he found his new teammate Sasuke already in the room with his head laying on one of the desks, seemingly asleep. The raven-haired boy was alerted to the Namikazes arrival and immediately woke up, lifting his head from the table and then glaring at the twins.<p>

"Where the hell were you two?" said the Uchiha vehemently, "I've been here for almost two hours by myself; all of the other kids left with their jonin instructors already."

"Uhh, do you think we should have told him, Naruto-nii," said Kurama while turning to her brother, ignoring Sasuke in the process, "I mean, two hours is an awfully long time to wait…"

"Nah; no one ever told _us_ about Kakashi-nii's habits," replied Naruto with a grin, "What makes him so special."

"What exactly are you two talking about?" inquired Sasuke, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"Kakashi-nii is known for his extreme chronic tardiness," explained Kurama, "Unless he absolutely needs to be somewhere on time, he'll always show up about two hours later."

The Uchiha's eyes twitched in annoyance, "You mean a guy like that…is going to be our teacher."

"Yup; and that's not all," added Naruto, "Kakashi-nii is also an openly perverted man who likes reading erotic literature in public. So when we meet him, expect the guy to pull out a small, orange book called _Icha Icha Paradise_, hehe."

Sasuke banged his head against the desk in frustration, causing the Hokage's children to snicker at his misfortune, '_I'll never catch up to Itachi with a man like that as my sensei_.'

"Don't worry, Sasuke-teme," continued Naruto, causing Sasuke to scoff at the blonde's use of honorific, "It's been almost two hours already; Kakashi-nii should be here any minute now…"

* * *

><p>Three hours later…<p>

"WHRE THE HELL IS THAT MASKED BASTARD!" exclaimed an enraged and highly frustrated Namikaze Naruto. The blonde-haired twelve-year old was foaming at the mouth and had a crazed look in his eye, as if he was just about to murder a puppy in cold blood.

"I have no idea," groaned Kurama, who was equally irate, "It's been five fucking hours already; even for him that's a little excessive! It's like he's trying to beat his own record at being tardy!"

"I bet he's doing this on fucking purpose!" raved Naruto, "He knows that we know that he was going to be late by at least two hours, so to fuck with us he decides to be FIVE goddamn hours late!"

While the two Namikaze siblings were ranting, their third teammate was in the corner. The raven-haired Uchiha was in a fetal position on the floor, muttering something about "failed hopes and dreams" and "never going to surpass Itachi".

After a few more minutes of venting futilely, Naruto finally snapped, got out of his seat, and went to the class chalkboard. He grabbed the dustiest eraser he could find and walked to the door, before placing said eraser on top of the slightly-ajar entrance, knowing that once Kakashi opened it, the well-placed eraser would fall and cover the jonin in chalky white dust.

Naruto's actions roused Sasuke from his catatonic stupor, prompting the onyx-eyed boy to call his male teammate out on his pranking attempt.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing, dobe," said the Uchiha, causing Naruto to scoff at _his_ nickname, "This man's a jonin, no matter how tardy or perverted he is; that lousy trick won't work on him."

Naruto just grinned back at him in response before replying, "Hehehe, don't worry about a thing, teme. I know Kakashi-nii; just watch and see what happens."

"At least think of something more original," entered Kurama, joining the conversation, "Come on, Nii-san, I know you can come up with something better than the old "eraser in the doorway" trick."

"Well sorry if I'm too angry and frustrated right now to think of anything else!"

Kurama was just about to bite back with her own comment when the door to the classroom opened abruptly, causing the eraser to fall and land on the new arrivals gravity-defying and silvery grey hair, covering the man with white chalk.

"My god; it actually worked. Is this guy really a jonin?" said Sasuke in an odd combination of awe and disillusionment, '_Well, there goes my chances of getting strong enough to make ANBU by the time I'm thirteen_.'

Their new jonin-sensei, a tall, scarecrow-like figure with a mask covering almost all of his face and his forehead protector which was slanted downwards covering his left eye and the rest of his face. He was wearing the standard jonin attire of Konoha, a dark, green flak jacket containing numerous scroll and equipment pouches over a long-sleeve, darkish blue shirt and matching pants.

"Normally, I would be giving you my first impressions right about now," started Hatake Kakashi, "But since I already know two of you, it would seem a little unnecessary. So how about we just skip that part; I want all three of you to meet on the roof ASAP."

The silver-haired jonin disappeared in a poof of smoke, indicating his use of _Shunshin no Jutsu_.

* * *

><p>"Okay, let's begin with some introductions," said Kakashi now that all of Team 7 had relocated to the academy roof. The three genin were all sitting in a row on the ground facing their jonin-sensei, who was standing in a laid-back manner. From left to right from Kakashi's perspective it went Kurama, Sasuke in the middle, and then Naruto.<p>

"What do you mean by that, Kakashi-sensei?" inquired Sasuke. Even now, he was still having a hard time reading the masked man. It didn't help at all that the only part of the Cyclops's face that could be seen was one, single, solitary eye.

"Hmm, how 'bout…your likes, dislikes, dreams for the futures, hobbies, stuff like that," explained the jonin with a shrug.

"Why don't you give us an example, then," replied Sasuke smugly, "You seem like a pretty suspicious guy after all."

"Oh…you mean me? Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you about my likes or dislikes. Dreams for the future…? Hmm…well, I have a lot of hobbies…"

"So all he gave us was his name," muttered Sasuke under his breath, '_Those two teammates of mine probably know a lot about this clown, considering they treat him like he is an older brother to them, oddly. That means I'm at a disadvantage already_."

Grinning, Naruto stood up, causing Sasuke to raise an eyebrow before the blonde boy started, "That was a pretty lame introduction. How about this: your name is Hatake Kakashi, you like pornographic novels such as _Icha Icha Paradise _and you dislike the time it takes for Ero-Sennin to write _Icha Icha Paradise_. You also claim to dislike it whenever that weird "bushy-brows" sensei always bugs you for competitions, but personally I think you secretly enjoy it. Your dreams for the future is…uh, I don't think even I know that. And your hobbies are reading those porn novels I was talking about and being chronically tardy. Is that right, Kakashi-nii?"

"Ah, that's just about right, my cute little _otouto_, and thanks for ruining my cool and mysterious presence," replied Kakashi sarcastically, "Oh, and one word of advice; don't call me Nii-san or _aniki_ whenever we're on official shinobi business. Call me Kakashi-sensei or just sensei. If our enemies know that we have an attachment to each other that is not just a student-teacher relationship, then they can exploit it. Do you understand?"

"Uh, yeah, I get it, Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto.

"Hmm, excellent; that goes for you too, Kurama," added Kakashi. The red-haired vixen gave him a nod of agreement in response.

"Now then, let's continue with the introductions; we'll start from the left, so Kurama goes first."

Kurama nodding again before standing up and begin her introduction, "My name is Namikaze Kurama. I like a lot of things, but I especially like training and pranking people, hehe. I dislike anyone who badmouths or hurts any member of my family. I also hate perverts!"

The last part was said while Kurama released an intense killing intent, causing Kakashi to sweat nervously. He would have to refrain from reading a certain book in her presence…at least not too much.

"My dreams for the future are to be the greatest prankmaster in world history, and to be able to protect my family and my village as a strong shinobi, like my father and mother, _dattebane_! My hobbies…hmm, I wanna say training and pranking, but I said those already, so instead I'll say that my hobby is making dinner for my family with my mom. And that's it…"

'_She's like her mother in so many ways, but I can see some of sensei in her too. At the same time, there are things about her that differentiate Kurama from her parents_," mused Kakashi inwardly.

"Good, good, now it's your turn. Yes, you with the raven-hair," said Kakashi out loud, addressing the team's Uchiha heir.

Sasuke stood up and began, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't really to tell a lot of people about myself, but I guess I'll make an exception for you guys. I like eating tomatoes, and I dislike, no, I _loathe_ fangirls, especially the hormonal pre-teen kind…"

* * *

><p>Somewhere in Konoha, one Haruno Sakura gave a loud, abrupt sneeze, scaring a few nearby birds away.<p>

"Hmm, am I getting a cold," muttered the pink-haired genin to herself, "Maybe that intense survival training test with Uchiha-sensei is making me sick…"

* * *

><p>"My dreams for the future," continued Sasuke, "Well, it's more of an ambition, but when I'm older I want to surpass my brother Itachi."<p>

Kakashi's eyes widened slightly, '_So, he wants to surpass Itachi-kun, eh. It's understandable, but the boy's got a lot of work cut out for him. When Itachi was at his age, he was already elite jonin-level, if not higher. Sasuke has a long way to go_.'

"My hobbies are training and taking walks," finished the raven-haired twelve-year old.

"Ah, well then, it's blondie's turn now," said Kakashi, turning towards the last member of Team 7.

"Hmph, well here I go. My name is Namikaze Naruto, _dattebayo_! I like ramen, especially the ramen they make at Ichiraku's, but I also like the ramen my Mom and my sister make," began Naruto, causing Kurama to smile at him due to his compliment of her cooking skills.

"I dislike the three minutes it takes for instant cup ramen to heat up in the microwave…"

'_Is ramen all he thinks about_," wondered all of the others present.

"…I also dislike people who judge others based on who they're related to. My dream for the future is, well…hmm…" Naruto hesitated, "I guess…I would probably want to become a world famous prankster like my sister…maybe…"

'_He doesn't seem very sincere about his dream for the future_,' commented Kakashi in his mind, '_It's like he's…hiding something_.'

"And finally, my hobbies are training and watering plants," finished the Hokage's only son.

"Alright, that's enough of that," said the elite jonin, "We will start our first mission tomorrow."

"A mission already?" asked Kurama, "What kind of mission are we gonna do, exactly?"

"Well, first we're going to do something with just the four of us," stated Kakashi.

The eyes of all three genin widened in curiosity, some more than others. What could their first task as full-fledged shinobi be? Would it be a dangerous bodyguard mission, an assassination, or maybe even rescuing a beautiful princess? Would they fight other ninja in epic battles that determined the fate of entire countries? Or maybe they would…

"Survival training," said Kakashi, interrupting the grandiose thoughts of all his students.

"Survivial…training?" asked a puzzled Naruto.

"Why is our first mission survival training? We've had enough of that at the Academy," said Sasuke stoically.

"He's got a point there, sensei," added Kurama, "We already learned survival training."

The one-eyed masked man somehow gave the three pre-teens an odd smile with just his one visible eye, a phenomenon that Team 7 would call the infamous "eye smile" in the coming years.

"This isn't your typical survival training; nothing you've ever faced or learned about in the academy will prepare you for this," said their sensei, "And lastly; I'm the one who will be your opponent."

Naruto, Kurama, and Sasuke all gaped in mild surprise; did the jonin seriously expect them to fight him. They were only genin, for Kami's sake! If only to reiterate their developing belief that the man was insane, Kakashi began chuckling deeply with his one visible eye squinted shut from his laughter.

"Um, what's so funny, sensei?" asked Kurama, half not wanting to know the answer to her own question.

"No…well, it's just that," began Kakashi with his palm facing up held out in front of him, "When I tell you this, you guys are definitely going to flip."

"Why is that, Kakashi-nii…uh, I mean Kakashi-sensei?" questioned Naruto.

"Because, this survival training that we're going to do tomorrow…is actually a super difficult, almost impossible exam that will determine whether you three _really_ become genin. Oh, and by the way, it has a 66.7% failure rate," said the jonin ominously.

Both Naruto and Kurama completely bugged out at their instructor's statement, looking almost comical with the shock displayed on their faces, while Sasuke was more stoic about his surprise but still visibly unhinged, with beads of sweat running down his face.

"See, I told you that you guys would flip," added the masked shinobi.

"What the hell!" shrieked Kurama in rage, "What was the point of the academy's graduation exam then if we have to take another one?"

"Oh, you mean that…that's just a test to see who has a chance of becoming genin…"replied Kakashi matter-of-factly.

"WHAT!"

"Anyways," continued the silver-haired jonin, "like I said, tomorrow will be your _real_ genin exam. Your performance in the field will be evaluated by me, and if I believe that you have what it takes to be shinobi, then I will pass you. But if you come short of my standards and expectations, then it's back to the academy with you three."

All three twelve-year olds gulped in fear and anxiety.

"Oh, and one more thing; bring all of your equipment tomorrow, and don't eat breakfast," added Kakashi.

"Wait, why shouldn't we eat breakfast?" asked Kurama.

"Well, I wouldn't want you to throw up or anything…"

"What! Throw up; is the test that difficult?" exclaimed Naruto in disbelief.

"Who knows?" shrugged Kakashi, causing his three students to sweatdrop, "Here; take these handouts I'm going to give you. They should give you a little more info on the test."

Kakashi whipped out a few sheets of paper with the exam details on them, prompting the three aspiring shinobi to take them before each member of Team 7 started going the info.

"Well then, that's it for today. Don't be late tomorrow! See ya," said Kakashi in farewell before disappearing in poof of smoke.

With their eccentric sensei now gone, the three genin looked at each other; all of them were thinking along the same lines…

_'I absolutely cannot fail tomorrow_!"

* * *

><p>A newly tanned Minato arrived back in his home via <em>Hiraishin<em>, appearing in the master bedroom with a yellow flash. Gone was his trademark Hokage cloak and his jonin vest, leaving him in nothing but his casual clothes; a long-sleeved blue shirt with matching pants.

"Welcome back, Minato; I've been looking for you all day. It was just soooooo lonely here without you," said a seductive yet terrifying voice from behind him. Alarmed, the Hokage turned around to find his wife sitting with her legs crossed in a recliner. She had a disturbing smile on her face and a look in her eyes that just screamed "pissed-off to unimaginable levels".

In other words, Minato was screwed.

"Oh! Hello, honey! I didn't see you there, hehe," stammered the Yondaime nervously as Kushina slowly stood up and reached her full height. Before he could even blink, Minato felt himself suddenly held in place by numerous chakra chains wrapped around his body. He could have easily used Hiraishin to escape, but oddly enough, he was actually more terrified of what Kushina would do if he did get away.

"Listen up, my darling husband. I don't want to have to repeat myself, but next time you decide to teleport to a tropical island in the middle of the ocean…YOU DAMN WELL BETTER BRING ME ALONG!" shrieked the former _jinchuuriki_ as her crimson tresses fluttered about in nine tail-like locks, giving her a demonic appearance that caused Minato to whimper in fear, "Now then, since I have your attention, I think its time that you make up for all this."

"W-What do you mean by that, Kushina," asked the blonde-haired Namikaze in utter trepidation. Kushina eyed him hungrily before licking her lips, causing the Yondaime to nearly soil himself in horror.

"Let's have sex, Minato, the kids aren't around…and you better be my bitch," said Kushina while flicking her wrist and making a whipping noise.

It was obvious who wore the pants in that relationship.

* * *

><p>Uzumaki Nagato gazed over Amegakure, taking in the sight of his rainy, industrialized village. Seeing the towering metropolis through his own eyes, rather than the eyes of a reanimated puppet, was like a whole new experience for the former cripple.<p>

He had agreed to the _Rikudou Hiraishin's_ deal.

Now, not only did Nagato have the ability to walk again and was no longer deathly emaciated, but he felt like he was fifteen years younger. No…he _was _fifteen years younger. He had practically the same appearance as when his friend Yahiko died; his physical prime. Combine that with the skill and experience he had obtained after over a decade of using the Rinnegan, and now Nagato was more powerful than ever.

Of course, his part of the deal had to be met. In a few weeks he would be sending an envoy with Uzumaki Choetsu to Konoha to draw up plans for an official alliance.

"Well, Nagato; how does it feel?" said a voice behind him, "This is the first time you've been outdoors in your real body for quite a long time."

Turning around, Nagato found his best friend and companion Konan, staring at him with a warm smile on her face; one that he had not seen from her in years.

"It is rather…exhilarating," said the renewed man with a higher-pitched, younger sounding voice than usual; another after effect of his rejuvenation.

"What of the Six Paths?" asked Konan, wondering what would become of the six reanimated corpses that Nagato used to fight when he was crippled.

"They're still useful, although now I won't have to rely on them completely," answered Nagato, "I could use them as support units to supplement my real body or as reconnaissance to send into dangerous situations."

"Ah, I see."

Nagato smiled at her. There was something different about the way Konan looked today. Or maybe he was just seeing her in a completely different light. But for the love of him…Konan had never looked so beautiful before. A genuine angel from Heaven itself…no; she was his angel.

"K-Konan," stammered Nagato while slowly inching towards his blue-haired companion.

The paper user's expression took on one of curiosity, "What is it, Nagato; you seem nervous all of a sudden."

Throwing all caution to the wind, the crimson-haired man who now looked like he was in his early twenties grabbed Konan by the cheeks and ensnared her in a passionate kiss, startling the angel and causing her eyes to widen even more. However, it wasn't long before she started pushing back against Nagato's lips with her own.

Suddenly realizing what he had just done, Nagato gaped in panic before breaking the kiss and backing off, "O-Oh god, I'm sorry Konan. I…I have no idea w-what came over me!"

Konan simply smiled back at him before initiating a kiss of her own, shocking the Rinnegan-user. Hesitantly, Nagato returned the kiss with equal fervor. It wasn't until several seconds had passed until the two finally disengaged their contact, gasping for oxygen in the process.

"K-Konan you…w-why did you…"

"Isn't it obvious," said Konan, cutting him off, "When two people of the opposite sex spend so much time and go through so many ordeals in the companionship of one another, they tend to either fall in love or become the most bitter of enemies. Fortunately, for us, it was the former."

Nagato's Rinnegan eyes widened in shock, "Did you just…are you saying that you…"

"Yes, Nagato, I love you…and I have for some time," answered the blue-haired angel, "And, based on your actions today, I'm guessing that you do too."

"But I thought you loved Yahiko?"

"The key word is _loved_, Nagato, that's past tense. Yahiko is dead; I…we can't just keep living in the past, never moving forward. If I didn't get over his death, well, I would still be heartbroken to this day. The fact of the matter is that you, Nagato, are alive and present, and I love you. I love you…"

"God, we sound like two teenagers out of a crappy romantic subplot," commented Nagato sarcastically, prompting Konan to giggle in response.

"Correction; _you _sound like a teenager out of a crappy romantic subplot," replied Konan.

"That's because I _am_ a teenager now, in a very literal sense; or at least a man in his early twenties. It's these damn hormones I've been feeling on full blast since Choetsu returned my youth to me," ranted Nagato comically, "I bet he planned this all! He intentionally rigged my new body with a higher sexual drive so he could manipulate me into having intercourse with you! God, I should have known; the first thing he does after getting me to listen to him was advise me on how to bed you, after all…"

"Wait, Choetsu-san gave you advice…on making love with me?" inquired Konan with rising killing intent.

"Umm…yes," answered Nagato before giving an audible gulp of fear™.

"That man," continued Konan in a menacing tone, "shall witness the wrath of six hundred billion explosive tags tonight."

Nagato shivered as his new lover started laughing maniacally, completely out of character for the normally emotionless woman, "Uhh…I think I'll be going now…I need to check up on Shizuka-san and begin her first lesson…"

The false Rikudou slowly distanced himself from her, walking away nervously as Konan kept muttering something about "Paper Oceans" and "lecherous Rikudous".

Elsewhere in the Hidden Rain Village, a certain blonde-haired time traveler felt a feeling that he could only described as being completely and utterly fucked.

* * *

><p>"Did you need me for something, Sarutobi-sama?" asked Minato after teleporting to his office. The blonde was now dressed in his full Hokage attire, badass cloak included. Despite this, the Yondaime was sporting a flushed expression on his face, and he jumped a bit when a sound resembling a whip was heard in the distance.<p>

"Well, for one thing, I need you to resume your post, because if I have to do this job any longer, I swear I'm gonna snap," said the aged retiree with a crazed expression on his face, "Second of all, you have a meeting with the council tonight that cannot be avoided. My condolences and I wish you good luck. You're gonna need it…"

"Don't worry about me. I can handle a few council members; I've dealt with Kushina on her worst days after all," replied Minato, '_Like today, I might add_.'

"I'm sorry, my successor, but you are undeniably whipped," said Hiruzen, causing Minato to deflate humorously, "Anyways, before I forget; one Yamanaka Inoichi is requesting your presence. He said it has to do with "that" prisoner."

"Inoichi? But didn't he resign from the Torture and Interrogation Division?"

"Yes, but for this case he was called back on a favor to Ibiki," explained the Sandaime, "They needed him for the job because of what it has to do with the Yamanaka clan and their…abilities."

"Ah, I see," said Minato, "Well, I wouldn't want to keep the man waiting. I'll just be going…"

"Now wait just a goddamn second! You're not leaving," interrupted Hiruzen before gesturing to all the paperwork on Minato's desk, "Before all of this crap gets sorted by someone who isn't me!"

The old man immediately stood up before throwing his Hokage hat on to the floor and stomping on it violently. Then, to the shock and horror of Minato, the Sandaime reduced the hat to nothing but ashes with a low-level _Katon_.

"I am sick and tired of all the goddamn paperwork! I fucking retired for Kami's sake; the next time you want someone to cover you, it better not be me! Or so help you, I will find a way to shove Emma's staff form up your asshole and then extend it to its maximum length! Oh, and don't worry; that hat wasn't yours."

Minato gaped at the normally cheerful and well-mannered old man cussing up a storm. He had honestly never seen his predecessor act this way. Sighing heavily, the blonde Hokage formed an infamous cross seal before creating a single _kage bunshin_ of himself, startling the Sandaime. The shadow clone sat down in his now vacant desk before starting on the paperwork.

"W-what the hell are you doing, M-Minato?" questioned Hiruzen in absolute bewilderment.

"What do you mean; I'm taking care of the paperwork," stated Minato matter-of-factly, "Isn't that what you wanted?"

Hiruzen's eyes bugged out, "B-but yo-you…but t-that…that's…that's a c-clone…"

"Yes, that is indeed, a shadow clone," snarked Minato while rolling his eyes, "How else do you expect me to finish all this paperwork? By _myself_, ahahaha!"

"You…you know about this trick all along didn't you! That's why you never had as many problems with the Great Evil as I had! Why didn't you ever tell me, Minato?"

"I thought you already knew," answered Minato flatly. Truth be told, Minato had originally learned _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_ in order to ensure that the masked man who claimed to be Uchiha Madara would never be able to use his own signature jutsu against himself ever again, or anyone else for that matter. It wasn't until a few years after the Kyuubi attack that he discovered that shadow clones could be used for other purposes.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes widened at Minato's flat reply, before he started tearing up and shaking uncontrollably; the crazed expression on his face never leaving and in fact becoming more evident.

'_Uh oh, I think the Sandaime just snapped_,' mused Minato nervously, '_I think now would be a good time as any to check up on Inoichi…_'

Then, the Yondaime vanished with a yellow flash, leaving his hapless clone at Ground Zero…

That fateful day, the loudest scream in recorded history was heard in Konohagakure, causing many of the villagers to panic believing that the Nine-Tails had been resurrected and was going to rampage in the village again. Saner minds knew better however; even the Kyuubi could not roar as loud as that.

TBC

A.N. And there you have it; Chapter 11. Mostly humor, but next week I'll get to the bell test.

Read and review, people!


	13. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Code Geass...oh wait, wrong fanfic. Sorry.

Author's Note: For the record, I don't support suicide or am trying to portray it as a laughing matter. You'll not what I'm talking about when you read the chapter. Also, don't get too attached to the OCs I made for Team 6, aka Sakura's team in this fic. They won't be very important, just saying. But Sakura herself will still play a role in the story to come.

Anyways, here you go...

Chapter 12: Yet Again, Another Iteration of the Bell Test

Yamanaka Inoichi gazed intently at the cursed seal puppet sitting across from him. The sinister-looking puppet doll was a puzzle that the Yamanaka clan leader had been trying to solve for the past few hours. Well, not the puppet itself, of course, but what was inside of it.

When the _chunin _ranked academy instructor, Umino Iruka, had shown up in Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Division with instructions from Hokage-sama saying that he had been possessed by a rogue Yamanaka and made to attack his own student, Ibiki had immediately called him up. After arriving, the platinum-blonde father used a secret Yamanaka clan technique to extract the sealed mind inside of Iruka and deposited it in the nearest puppet he could find.

Afterwards, was a matter of perusing the trapped consciousness for information using his mind probing abilities; a usually uncomplicated process. This was not the case, however, when Inoichi ran into a few, powerful mental barricades while probing the prisoner's mind; barricades that even his most powerful mind probing jutsus could not overcome. In the end, even after hours of trying to break through the prisoner's mental defenses, the only thing he was able to learn was a name: Fu.

Even worse; he had only a few hours at the most before the prisoner's consciousness faded away. Human minds weren't meant to be sealed in inanimate objects for very long periods of time; at least not with Yamanaka techniques. That's why, as soon as he heard that his good friend Minato was back in town, the Yamanaka clan leader immediately requested his presence; either for him to break through the mental barricades with his unparalleled mastery of _fuinjutsu_, or to design a seal that could hold the trapped consciousness longer, that way they could have more time to come up with a solution.

However, when Inoichi called for the Yondaime, he didn't expect his fellow blonde to arrive in the manner that he did. That is, teleporting into the room with a yellow flash, immensely startling the Yamanaka, followed by an ear-splitting scream in the distance which then resulted in Minato immediately collapsing in pain while holding his ears like they were going to fall off.

"Ughh, I didn't know it was humanely or inhumanely possible to scream that loud," whined Minato while clenching his teeth, "_Kami_, I can't believe I forgot to dispel the clone I left behind; I'm such an idiot."

"Are you alright, Minato?" asked Inoichi while helping his friend and superior up from the floor, "What happened?"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" exclaimed Minato with uncharacteristic loudness, as he continued to hold his throbbing ears.

"I said, "Are you okay, Minato"!" asked Inoichi again with more force.

"I STILL CAN'T HERE YOU!"

"ARE YOU OKAY!"

"HOLD ON, I STILL CAN'T HEAR WHAT YOU'RE SAYING. JUST GIVE ME A MINUTE TO REGAIN MY HEARING!"

After a few minutes had gone by, Minato finally stopped cradling the sides of his head with his hands, before turning to his friend once again and saying, "Okay, the ringing is mostly gone now; can you repeat whatever it is that you were trying to say, Inoichi."

"I was just asking if you were alright," clarified the platinum blonde, "What happened?"

"Oh yeah, about that; did you hear an enormously deafening scream that went off about a few minutes ago?"

"Uh, yeah I did; what about it?"

"Well, that was Sarutobi-sama, from the Hokage Building," explained Minato, "He was pissed after I told him the secret to getting paperwork done faster."

"Wait, what; but how? I heard it and it was pretty loud, even from here! And you know how far your office is from the T & I Division," said Inoichi, "Plus, this room is completely sound-proofed, both from inside and out. How could he possibly…"

"Like I said," interrupted the Yondaime, "He was pissed. Really pissed. And I accidently left my clone at Ground Zero, which is why I collapsed; stupid memory feedback."

"Ah, I s-see…well, anyways," said Inoichi while trying to steer the conversation to something a little saner, "about the subject that I called you here for…"

"It's about "that" prisoner isn't it?" said the Namikaze.

"Well, yes, yes it is. But first, let's talk about the other two prisoners that showed up at Ibiki's doorsteps last night. Please, Minato, take a seat," said Inoichi while gesturing to a table with three chairs surrounding it in the Spartan interrogation room they were in.

After they both took a seat, Inoichi continued, "Ibiki worked on the other two; he didn't need me until this particular one. The chunin from Cloud who was immobilized by a cursed seal was surprisingly easy to crack; apparently that whole operation with kidnapping Hiashi's daughter was given to them by a rogue element in the upper-tier of Kumo's government, completely unrelated to and unsupported by the Raikage himself."

"That's excellent; if we have proof that the kidnapping was not authorized by A-dono, then it will be a lot easier to avoid a war; something we really can't afford right now," commented the Hokage.

"Yes, now on to Mizuki. What he had to say after being interrogated…was a little bit more interesting," muttered the Yamanaka ominously.

"Tell me."

"Well, according to him, Danzo-sama was secretly supporting his actions tonight," clarified the flower shopkeeper, "He said that they made a deal; Mizuki would get the Forbidden Scroll, and Danzo would get his hands on your daughter."

If Minato was surprised, he didn't show it, "I expected as much; this whole fiasco is definitely up Danzo's alley. But I didn't think he would be so bold as to actually go through with it; my absence must have spurned him on."

"Yeah, I think that's the case," replied Inoichi, "But still; Mizuki's words aren't enough to accuse Danzo of anything. We need more evidence…"

"And this is where "that" prisoner comes in," finished Minato, already knowing what the other blonde was going to say.

"Exactly; I'm already certain that Danzo-sama is behind this. The mental barricades protecting the prisoner's mind from my probing techniques are based heavily on advanced fuinjutsu, and not yours or Jiraiya-sama's specific brand of it either. It has the old war hawk's name written all over it. If you could just crack it open, then we'll have all the evidence we need."

"And I'll finally be able to accuse that old mummy of treason like I've been trying to for nearly a decade," added the village leader with a grin, "Alright, show me the seal."

Inoichi nodded before directing the Yondaime to the curse seal puppet. Minato examined it with his eyes first before placing his hands on the seal itself. After a moment, the seal master closed his eyes shut and focused, while the sealing characters began glowing a bright azure hue; the color of chakra itself.

"You're right; these barricades are strong," said Minato while his eyes were still closed, "I might actually have to put some time and effort into this."

"Can you get it cracked before the consciousness fades away?"

"Actually, I can do it via brute force in five minutes, but Danzo put a failsafe in just in case anyone of my level tried to crack the seal; he set it up so that if the barricades were broken through, the undone seal would take the trapped mind with it, erasing all of it's memories and making all of our efforts worthless."

"So what are you going to do?" inquired Ino's father.

"I'm gonna rework the seal from the ground up, metaphorically speaking; I'll redo it so that the failsafe becomes no longer functional, that way I can just crack the barricades afterwards," explained Minato in laymen's terms, "But it's going to take a lot longer this way; you might wanna tell your fellow council members that the meeting is postponed till tomorrow in the afternoon."

"What; it's going to take that long? But the other council members are extremely adamant about getting a meeting with you today," whined Inoichi.

Minato brushed it off casually, "Then tell them too bad; say it's a matter of Konoha's security. It probably is, by the way, nobody uses barricades this tough for any old reason. This is something big, and it's irrevocably linked to Danzo."

"Alright, I'll tell them, but a lot of them are gonna be pissed," replied the Yamanaka clan head, "Especially the civilian members."

"Please, those old geezers don't scare me one bit," said Minato, "Not when I have Kushina for a wife."

Inoichi rolled his eyes, "You should seriously have a group session with Shikaku and Tsume's husband about being utterly whipped by your significant others…"

"Um, you know that Tsume's husband left her, right?"

"Oh yeah; I totally don't blame him."

* * *

><p>"So, how was your first day as shinobi?" inquired Kushina casually at the dinner table, while she was cutting a piece of her meat with a knife. Sitting across from her was Naruto, while next to him was Kurama. As usual, the blonde boy was eating a bowl of miso ramen, while his sister was having some <em>yakitori<em>.

"It was fine Mom; we just got our _genin_ squads assigned, and then we met our _jonin_ instructors," answered Naruto while slurping up some noodles.

"Hoh; did you guys end up on the same team?"

"Yeah; if we didn't, both of us would have teamed up and kicked Iruka-sensei's butt. Our third member is Uchiha Sasuke though. He's kind of a prick; I'm not sure if I like him much," explained Kurama while making a nasty face.

Kushina rose her eyebrows at this, "Oh, that Mikoto's son is your teammate. Interesting; do you two remember playing with him when you were very young?"

"Yeah; he was always kind of stuck up and bratty, but he wasn't too bad," said Naruto, "How come you stopped taking us to his house, Okaa-chan?"

"I…well, it's a bit complicated," began Kushina with a far off look, "but his mother and I…we don't really see eye to eye anymore. It's an adult people thing. But enough of that; who's your sensei?"

"Kakashi-nii!" yelled the two twins in unison.

"Ah, Kakashi-kun is your new teacher; that's very ironic since he was your father's student."

"Yeah, we know. He's pretty cool," said Kurama, "But if he acts like a pervert around me I'm gonna kick his ass!"

"Hey, hey, language young lady," scolded the mother, "But I agree. Kakashi-kun isn't the best person to model ones behaviors off of; especially considering his chronic tardiness. He's a good teacher though, even if he…well, I'm not sure if I should tell you this…"

"What is it, what is it, what is it? Tell us, Mom! You gotta tell us!" pleaded Naruto excitedly.

"He told you about that survival test of his, right?"

"Uh huh…"

"Did he tell you that none of the previous year's genin hopefuls have ever…and I mean _ever_…passed his test. Not a single one. They all failed."

Immediately, Naruto's and Kurama's looks of excitement deflated and turned into expressions of despair.

"You have got to be kidding me…"

* * *

><p>As usual, Hatake Kakashi was late. Six hours late, to be exact. Normally he would be late only by two hours, but he tripled his tardiness because his new team was already expecting it. He arrived at the training ground expecting to see three broken souls and some good old catatonic stupor.<p>

To his surprise, he only found one broken soul; Uchiha Sasuke. The raven hair pre-teen was lying on the ground in a fetal position muttering gibberish and foaming at the mouth. Walking up to the boy, Kakashi gave Sasuke a light kick to the side, knocking the Uchiha out of his stupor.

Immediately, Sasuke jumped up onto his feet, rushed Kakashi, and then grabbed the jonin by his collar. He shook him hard and said frantically, "Where the hell have you been? Six hours…six goddamn hours…"

"Ah, sorry, sorry; a black cat crossed my path, so I had to go the long way," replied Kakashi, causing the poor genin to sweatdrop, "By the way, where are your two teammates? If they're not here by now, I'm just going to disqualify them. Which means you'll fail too."

"I have no fucking clue where they are! I even visited that house of theirs, but nobody was home!"

"Well then, I guess that means you all fai-…"

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei; what's up!" yelled a voice from behind the two. Turning around to the sound, the silver-haired shinobi found…nothing but thin air.

'_Was that…Naruto's voice, or am I hearing things?_' pondered the elite jonin.

"Hey, can you here us! I'm pretty sure this thing isn't sound proof…" said the voice again.

"You're an idiot, Nii-chan; the _genjutsu_ is still up!" exclaimed another, more feminine voice.

"Oh yeah, hehehe, my bad; hey dad, do you think you could…"

"I'm already on it son," said a third, older voice. Suddenly, the air in front of Kakashi shimmered…revealing a hole; a hole in reality. Kakashi knew immediately what was going on; it was a…

"S-s-s-s-s-s-space-time barrier!" stammered Kakashi in shock. The portal was like a window between dimensions, and on the other side of this one was the Hokage's office. Kakashi's own sensei, the Yondaime, was sitting at his desk working on some documents, while his two children sat across from the village leader and waved back in Kakashi's direction with smiles on their faces.

"W-what are you two doing; we have a test right now!"

"Oh, we know," said Naruto matter-of-factly.

"But we also knew that you were going to be extremely late," continued Kurama, "So we prepared ourselves. Daddy did us a favor and opened up a _Jikukan Kekkei_ between his office and the training ground; that way we could chill here while waiting for you."

"I s-see; b-but nevertheless, since you two weren't present, I'm going to have to fail you anyways…"

"Ah, but that's where your wrong, Kakashi-sensei," replied Naruto with a smirk, "Since the barrier connects these two points in space-time, and we could have walked between the two whenever we wanted, then technically, we _were_ present the whole time."

Kakashi eyes widened in shock, "B-But that's…no way. Sensei, are you really gonna let them…"

"Sorry, Kashi-kun," said the Hokage, cutting his student off, "I didn't come home for dinner last night because of work, so I had to make it up to the kids. That's why I'm going to take their side on this matter."

"Damn it; sensei, you traitor," muttered the Cyclops dejectedly.

"Oh yeah! Score one for the Namikaze, _dattebayo_!" exclaimed Naruto enthusiastically before his expression shifted to one of slight puzzlement, "Um, does anyone know what happened to Sasuke-teme, by any chance…"

"Wasn't he standing right next to me," said the masked man before turning around and finding no one. Confounded by the raven boy's absence, Kakashi searched around with his eyes in an attempt to find where his student had gone to. It wasn't until the Hatake had looked behind the space-time barrier that he found Sasuke…attempting to hang himself from a tree while muttering something about "six wasted hours" and "why couldn't _his _dad open up space-time portals".

"NO, SASUKE, IT'S NOT WORTH IT!" yelled Kakashi in panic as he went after the boy in an attempt to save his life. Despite the seriousness of the situation, seeing the normally calm, cool, and collected Copycat act in that way was highly comedic.

Fortunately, thanks to his efforts and quick thinking, no young lives were lost unnecessarily in Konoha that day…

* * *

><p>After a few minutes of impromptu "therapy" courtesy of the Copy-nin for the temporarily suicidal Uchiha was over and done with, Naruto and Kurama walked over onto the training ground before giving their father a warm goodbye and a wishing of good luck, as the Hokage was scheduled for a meeting with the council soon afterwards. The jikukan kekkei closed up behind them as they stepped out onto the field.<p>

Immediately, Sasuke glared at the two with a look that could have killed a Rikudou on the spot; prompting the two to chuckle at the boy's misfortune. It seems that the raven-haired boy would hold those six wasted hours of his life against the two for a rather long time.

Unwilling to deal with any potential degeneration of relations between his three students, the silver-haired jonin decided to move on without delay.

"Alright, my cute little genin," began Kakashi, "It's time for our super fun survival exercise, a.k.a. the bell test, to begin."

"Bell test; why is it called that, Kakashi-sensei?" questioned Kurama with a curious air.

"Because of these," said the jonin while holding up two small, dangling, silver bells with his fingers, "The objective of this test is for you to steal these bells from me before the time limit is up." The one-eyed ninja followed that up by walking to a nearby tree stump with a clock on top of it before setting the timer.

"Any one who doesn't get a bell before time is up doesn't get to eat," continued Kakashi, "You guys remembered not to have breakfast right?"

"Uh hum, yeah, about that…" muttered Naruto sheepishly.

"We kind of did eat breakfast; it was part of the whole preparation thing we did to counter your tardiness, hehe," explained Kurama.

Kakashi sighed, "Well, I guess it means you two are clever, at least. So I'm assuming that none of you are hungry?"

"Actually…" murmured Sasuke while holding his grumbling stomach in pain.

"Ah good; I have one stomach I can torture today…pray, Sasuke, that you managed to get a bell. Because if any of you do not, I'll tie you to one of those stumps over there and eat right in front of you."

"But sensei; there are only two bells."

"What an astute observation, Kurama-chan," replied Kakashi sarcastically, "But yes; there are only two. Whoever doesn't get one is not only getting tied up…but they will also fail the test; which means that at least one of you is getting sent back to the academy."

Naruto, Kurama, and Sasuke all froze at the man's statement. A little sweat was pouring down their faces, revealing their nervousness to any watching.

"Oh and by the way," continued Kakashi, "You won't succeed unless you come at me with the intent to kill."

All three genin's eyes widened in shock; was this guy really asking them to do something so dangerous. All of them have sparred in the academy before, but never had the instructors asked them to fight with lethal intentions. Of course, one of them had already killed before…but this was their teacher; a comrade, not an enemy. This was different.

"Wait, but; you'll be in danger!" stammered Kurama with her arms stretched out wide dramatically.

"Yeah, are you sure this is a good idea, Kakashi-nii…uh, I mean, sensei," blundered Naruto before correcting himself.

"Calm down; don't worry about me. Just worry about your own selves and your chances of passing this exam," said the Copy-nin, "And I assure you…you won't get a single one of these bells from me."

Naruto, Kurama, and Sasuke all smirked at the man's obvious challenge. While before they were apprehensive about the test, now they were just brimming with determination to prove the man wrong. They would play his game, they would fight to kill, and they would try their absolute hardest. But they assured themselves, by the end of the day, they would have walked away with one of the man's silver bells.

"Okay, let's get going. Ready…start!"

* * *

><p>Nagato found the <em>Rikudou Hiraishin<em> on the roof of his citadel, meditating in an unusual lotus position with his back turned away from the former cripple. It didn't seem like the rain was bothering him; in fact, it looked more like he was bothering the rain, as any raindrops that fell in his vicinity would curve around him, leaving him untouched. If raindrops were sentient, Nagato would say that they were purposefully avoiding the blonde Rikudou as if he was a plague.

"So, how did it feel to be at the receiving end of over half a trillion exploding tags?" asked Nagato with a smug smirk. He had personally witnessed Konan's wrath when she went gunning for the lecherous Rinnegan-user, and was there when the blue haired angel plunged her victim into the infamous _Kami no Shisha no Jutsu_ (Paper Person of God Technique). It made him shiver but at the same time, it gave him a feeling of relief that he wasn't the outlet for his new lover's fury.

"Ever had your penis smashed by a closing door?" asked Choetsu without even turning around. Nagato shook his head immediately before shuddering in discomfort and subconsciously holding his groin area.

"Well, do that multiple times in quick succession, and then apply that feeling to your entire body, magnified a thousand fold," explained Choetsu, still in his lotus position, "And then you have what it feels like to be a victim of Konan's Paper Ocean."

"For once in my life…I actually pity you."

"I would pity Tobi as well, but he actually used his intangibility and _Izanagi_, so, I get to call him a pussy instead."

"Wait; what about Tobi?" questioned Nagato in a confused tone.

"Oh nothing; don't worry about it, Nagato-chan," replied Choetsu, "By the way, how are lessons with Shizuka-chan going?"

"Overall, she's doing very well; better than I was when I first unlocked the Rinnegan. Although, I didn't have a teacher who also had these eyes," explained the false Rikudou, "It would go by faster if you bothered to help though."

"Sorry, no can do…I told you I'm busy," said the Rikudou Hiraishin.

The crimson-haired Uzumaki sighed, "That's odd; you don't seem very busy right now."

"Shh, quiet; I'm watching the show!"

Nagato raised his eyebrows in puzzlement. "What show," inquired the Ame leader before looking in the direction that Choetsu was facing. Even with his enhanced vision, he didn't find anything but rain, buildings, rain, buildings, rain, rain, and more rain.

"You're a strange man," said the saner of the two before walking away.

Sensing the other Rinnegan user leave, Choetsu smirked before opening his eyes, revealing a shift. His Rinnegan was now a yellowish, amber color, with the pupil in the middle now a black, horizontal bar. The pigmentation around his eyelids was a vibrant orange hue…the mark of a true Sage.

In his mind's eye, the True Rikudou could see three Konoha genin; one with blonde hair, one raven, and one with red. Finally, he could see their silver-haired jonin-sensei, as well as two small bells dangling from the teacher's fingertips, swaying listlessly in the wind.

"Ah, so it's that time again," muttered Choetsu, "I wonder how this timeline's iteration of the bell test will play out."

* * *

><p>Copy-nin Kakashi watched as all three genin under his care jumped away in blurs of flickering motion. Looking at the empty clearing now in front of him, the jonin sighed, "Well, at least they managed to hide themselves; that's the very basics of being shinobi after all."<p>

'_If I'm right, they're probably waiting for me to let my guard down before striking_,' thought Kakashi , '_I'm a lot more patient than they think though, so they'll have to wait a long time before I make any openings for them to exploit. Plus, I have this…_'

The masked man reached into his back pouch, alerting the three hidden genin. What could he possibly be pulling out? Was it a weapon, or was it…

…a copy of _Icha Icha Paradise?_

"What the hell! That raging pervert!" exclaimed Kurama from her hiding spot, alerting everyone on the field to her position. Kakashi smirked behind his mask; she took the bait; hook, line, and sinker.

Kakashi's eyes widened, however, when a blur of red flickered in front of him while he was in the middle of a rather raunchy line in his book. The jonin was barely able to catch the fist barreling at his face in time with his free left hand, unexpected as it was. He remained composed though, and immediately countered by throwing the red-haired girl up and over his head. Kurama twisted in mid air and landed on her feet behind Kakashi before taking out a kunai, twirling it, and then hurling it straight at her teacher.

As if he had eyes in the back of his head, the scarecrow instantly reacted and ducked down, causing the kunai to miss. However, Kakashi looked up, and for the briefest moment managed to notice the exploding tag attached to and furling from the kunai's rear end, ready to ignite at any second. With a sizzle, it did so, resulting in a medium size explosion where the Copy-nin was.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he watched the scene from his hiding spot in the bushes, '_She actually used an exploding tag; the situation has already become so dangerous and it just started_.'

The smoke cleared, revealing a pulverized log in Kakashi's place. Kurama frowned at the use of replacement; it was so fast, she didn't even notice until after the fact. Was this the skill of a jonin?

Kurama promptly gasped however, when she detected a presence from behind before the red-haired vixen delivered a spinning kick to the back of her. The kick missed however as Kakashi ducked again with such speed that he left behind an afterimage. The Hokage's daughter made a blunder when her spinning kick took her too far, resulting in her back being turned to the jonin…and her rear end completely exposed.

'_Minato-sensei and Kushina are probably going to kill me for this, but it's worth a shot_,' mused the Copy-nin before placing his fingers in the seal of the tiger.

'_What the hell, _aniki_, are you really going to use a Katon on her…that's a bit too much! Get out of there, sis_," said Naruto with a concerned tone in his mind.

"It's already too late!" exclaimed Kakashi with a murderous glint in his eyes, "_One Thousand Years of Death_!" The one-eyed ninja charged forward before shoving his extended fingers up the twelve-year old's asshole…to the immediate consternation and annoyance of everyone else watching.

"What…that wasn't a _ninjutsu_," said Naruto with a sweatdrop, "It was just a super powerful ass poke."

"That guy is a total moron," muttered Sasuke while facepalming.

Kakashi smiled, proud of his handy-work, but when the girl failed to launch in pain while clutching her rectum was when he started to get worried. Then, all of sudden, the vixen disappeared in a poof of smoke, shocking Kakashi and the other two genin watching.

"_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_; but that's a jonin-level technique!" stammered Kakashi, surprised by the girl's use of clones, "I see; that must have been the jutsu she used to defeat Mizuki."

'_No way, was that a…solid clone_,' commented Sasuke inwardly in awe.

"Way to go sis," praised Naruto quietly under his breath. He was honestly impressed by Kurama's new ability. Naruto himself couldn't make kage bunshins, but he could use the shuriken shadow clone technique. Although shadow shurikens took more skill and chakra control to make, they were also a lot less chakra intensive.

"Impressive; not only was your first attack extremely fast for a genin, but you also forced me to use _Kawarimi no Jutsu_," commended the jonin-sensei while putting his porn book back in his pocket, "and then there was that shadow clone; no wonder you were the top of your class. I might actually have to refrain from reading _Icha Icha Paradise_ while fighting you."

"Well if you liked that, you're gonna love this," said a voice from behind Kakashi, "_Katon: Endan_ (Fire Release: Flame Bomb)!" Kakashi just barely managed to jump to the side when a basketball-sized fireball impacted at the exact spot he was at a third of a second ago. The jonin instructor was given no respite as he was forced to dodge three more times when more flame bombs were hurled at him. Turning around, the Copy-nin found his redheaded student standing atop a tree branch, with a tiny bit of smoke being emitted from her lips.

'_She's already using elemental ninjutsu at that age_."

"I'm just going to ignore the fact that, shadow clone or not, you just tried to stick your fingers up a twelve-year old girl's ass, _Ero-Aniki_." Kakashi twitched slightly at the vixen's comment and nickname for him, but didn't have the time to make a comeback when a hail of shuriken was thrown in his direction. Reacting quickly, the elite jonin swiped his right arm at the exact moment, catching all the shuriken on four of his fingers in mid-air.

Kakashi allowed the shuriken to spin around his fingers for a moment before throwing them back at Kurama with even greater force. The girl dodged in the nick of time, jumping off the branch and onto the ground in the process. Immediately, she formed a familiar cross-seal before creating four kage bunshins. The four clones charged with great speed and agility, weaving in and out amongst each other in chaotic patterns and formations that made it difficult for the average ninja to follow.

But Hatake Kakashi wasn't your average ninja.

Engaging the first clone, the scarecrow immediately blocked a heavy smash before being assaulted by a flurry of punches and kicks from all angles, courtesy of the four shadow clones, which had him completely surrounded. They were coordinating their attacks with great synchronism; it was almost graceful, as if the entire battle scene was choreographed before hand. Kakashi would dodge or block a blow to his person, then immediately he would be assaulted from another vector, or two other vectors or even three.

It got even more hectic and frenzied when the Kurama clones began flickering in and out of vision, like blurs. Kakashi found himself doing a Matrix-impression as he tried to dodge the agile clones from weird positions and angles.

"I've had enough of this; it's time to end it," announced Kakashi before delivering a powerful whirlwind kick that hit all of the clones at ones, causing all four to dispel immediately.

"Is that all; are clones and fire techniques your only tricks?" taunted Kakashi as he looked to the original. Kurama smirked.

"Nope; I'm guessing you didn't notice all the tags around you," said Kurama smugly before forming a half tiger seal. Kakashi's eyes widened when the ground surrounding him became alive with a multitude of exploding tags, seemingly out of nowhere.

Kakashi jumped, just barely escaping the massive firestorm of explosions that followed. '_Those were the new camouflaged exploding tags that sensei developed. They have a special seal incorporated in them that casts a minor genjutsu when they need to be hidden. Her clones must have placed them whenever I was distracted by another one during our taijutsu exchange. This girl continues to amaze me_,' deliberated Kakashi in his mind, clearly satisfied with the level of skill being displayed by the Hokage's daughter.

Kakashi's thought were interrupted when a giant Fuma shuriken was sent careening straight for him while he was still in mid-air. Not expecting the large weapon, Kakashi was caught off-guard and forced to take a kunai out to parry the spinning projectile. To his surprise and frustration, the Fuma shuriken erupted in a cloud of smoke after he had blocked it, revealing in its place, a Kurama clone that immediately made a grab for the bells. The clone was able to touch the bells briefly, and would have been able to take them away if Kakashi hadn't kicked the vixen's kage bunshin in time, dispelling it instantly.

'_Incredible; she managed to create a clone and transform it into a Fuma shuriken_,' mused Kakashi in awe before he finally landed on solid ground again. Subsequently, Kakashi found himself in a staring contest with the original Kurama, who was about a dozen feet away from him. The vixen was watching Kakashi with hawkish eyes, waiting for him to make his move.

"I'm impressed; that was a classic bunshin feint right there, executed almost perfectly. Based on what I've seen today, you're probably at least low-chunin level already in terms of both skill and power. But I'm afraid that it's over now," said Kakashi. Kurama tensed, preparing herself for the worst when…she suddenly felt a sharp pain at the back of her neck and was instantly knocked out.

Standing behind her was Kakashi, surrounded by wisps of smoke as he watched his student dropped to the ground, completely unconscious. The jonin had used a quick _shunshin_ to get behind her and take her out with a powerful karate chop to the back of the neck.

* * *

><p>"How very…anticlimactic of him," muttered Choetsu while sweatdropping as he watched the bell test from Amegakure using Sage Mode.<p>

* * *

><p>Kakashi turned over the fallen girl, checking her pulse just in case. Afterwards, the masked Cyclops took out his orange piece of erotic literature again, before turning towards the direction of where he believed his two other students were both hiding.<p>

"So…whose next?"

The response to his question was a flurry of shuriken.

* * *

><p>"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen of the council," announced Minato from his "pulpit". He was wearing his full, ceremonial Hokage robes, complete with the signature hat; something he didn't do often, as he always felt that it made him look old. To his right and left were his chief advisors, Nara Shikaku and Hyuuga Hiashi. He had picked them when he took the position as Yondaime, because it was customary for the old advisors to resign when a new Hokage entered office. In this case, the Sandaime's advisors, Homura and Kotaru resigned after the old geezer had retired.<p>

Personally, he would have wanted Sarutobi to be one of his advisors, but he respected the old man's desire to retire from politics.

"First things first; I apologize for postponing this meeting at such short notice, but I was working on matters related to the security of the village," said Minato while addressing the entirety of the council.

"What kind of matters, Hokage-sama?" asked one of the clan heads; one Aburame Shibi if Minato recalled. The man was one of few words and cold logic, and Minato didn't know him very well on a personal level, unlike a few other clan heads, like those of the Hyuuga, Nara, Akimichi, and Yamanaka clans.

"Yamanaka-san can fill that in for you," answered the Yondaime, prompting all heads in the room to turn their attention to the platinum blonde representing the clan of mind walkers, "If you will, Inoichi."

Inoichi stood up before bowing to his leader and addressing the rest of the council, "Yesterday, I was called on by Morino Ibiki to assist him with the interrogation of a highly-valuable prisoner. I agreed to this, despite the fact that I had resigned from my position in the Torture and Interrogation Division, because I owed Ibiki-san a favor, and because the situation of the prisoner being interrogated warranted certain…abilities that I possessed."

"However," continued Inoichi, "when I began probing the prisoner's mind with my clan's technique, I found numerous mental barricades that preventing me from continuing. They were powerful and blocked every attempt of mine from extracting information from the prisoner's mind. So after over half a day of fruitless efforts, I decided to request Yondaime-sama's assistance."

While Inoichi was speaking, Minato noticed in the corner of his eye that Danzo had tensed up significantly. If he wasn't already certain that Danzo was behind everything, then he would definitely be sure now, after seeing the normally calm and collected war hawk in that condition.

"Why did you specifically ask for Hokage-sama's help?" questioned one of the civilian council members, "Couldn't you have called for someone else who is an expert in breaking through these mental barricades."

"I asked Hokage-sama because the mental barricades that were blocking my probing attempts were based heavily on fuinjutsu of a brand so advanced that not many of us would be able to even understand it, let alone work with it. Besides Hokage-sama, the only other person I know of who would have been able to help me is Jiraiya-sama, and he's not in the village right now."

"Excellent; thank you Inoichi for sharing with us your reasons," said Minato, "Now if there are any other questions that don't have anything to do with why Inoichi-san or I did something we did, feel free to ask."

"Were you able to crack the prisoner's mind?" asked another civilian council member.

"Yes; yes I was. It took a while though; I didn't finish until about twelve o'clock last night," answered Minato as he took note of the fact that Danzo was beginning to perspire slightly, "That's why I had the meeting postponed."

"What information were you and Inoichi-san able to obtain from the prisoner after the mental barricades were removed?" asked Danzo, with a barely noticeable expression of concern on his face.

Minato smirked, "My apologies, Danzo-san, but it would not be a wise decision to disclose that information so early in this meeting, due to its volatile nature. It would be best if I waited until after all other topics have been discussed to reveal it."

Danzo nodded and sat down.

"Now then," continued the Yondaime, "I'm sure you all have plenty of questions left for me."

"Ah, Hokage-sama; what business were you attending to the other day that was so important that you had to leave the village on such short notice," questioned Fugaku, head of the elite Uchiha clan, "Also, there have been rumors circulating that you have a twin brother. Is that true?"

"Hmm; let me answer your second question first, because how I answer it becomes relevant to how I answer your first question," started Minato, "The rumors about my brother…are all true. His name is Uzumaki Choetsu and he-…"

Before Minato could finish his statement, the room erupted in a cacophony of noise as member after member each tried to ask their leader a question, resulting in a deafening jumble of noise that caused the Yondaime to pinch his temple in frustration.

"Settle down!" yelled Minato in the loudest and most commanding voice he could muster, "Please, one at a time; let's be civil here."

"Hokage-sama, who is this brother of yours and why have we not heard of him before?" asked a civilian council member.

"Well, as you know, I was borne outside of the village. During the Second War, my parents both died leaving me and my brother orphans at a very young age. After that, we were separated by my uncle; I was sent to Konoha as a refuge, while my brother was sent to Uzu no Kuni. I lived at the orphanage here while Choetsu became adopted by a member of the Uzumaki clan, which is why his last name is what it is."

"Because we were both separated at such a young age, neither of us had any recollection of the other. In fact, we did not meet until the Third World War, when I encountered him in the ruins of Uzushiogakure after it had been destroyed. I tried to persuade him to return to Konoha with me, but he refused in exchange for a nomadic lifestyle. So instead, I convinced him to become a wandering ally of our village, similar to Jiraiya. He takes on highly clandestine missions, usually of the S-rank variety, at my behest, despite the fact that he is neither an officially recognized nor registered shinobi of Konoha," finished Minato.

Everything he had said about being an orphan and not being borne in the village was all true; Minato simply added in Choetsu's existence. It was, after all, easier to fool people with half-truths and partial lies than with complete fabrications.

"I see, Hokage-sama; I'm assuming that this…Choetsu, is a highly capable shinobi if you assign him S-rank missions on a regular basis," spoke Danzo. Minato could easily tell that the bandaged elder was beginning to become interested in his "brother".

"You're absolutely correct," answered the blonde-haired Namikaze, "In fact, it wouldn't be farfetched to say that he makes _me_ look like an amateur in combat."

Everyone present gasped at Minato's statement. The Yondaime was widely considered to be the most powerful, most talented, and most accomplished shinobi ever produced by Konoha, some even say the whole world. Even the feats of previous Hokages seem to pale in comparison to the legendary _Kiiroi Senko no Konoha_.

The man was not only the fastest ninja in recorded history, an unparalleled master of the sealing arts, and a highly accomplished inventor of high-level ninjutsu, but he was also top-tier in terms of strategic and tactical thinking. Many believed that his nickname would have been "God of Shinobi", if it wasn't already taken by his predecessor.

For someone to excel in the shinobi profession to the extent that even Namikaze Minato seemed like an amateur in comparison; well, let's just not go there.

The man would have to be the reincarnation of the _Rikudou Sennin_ himself…

* * *

><p>The flurry of shurikens went flying at the Copy-nin before they all hit their mark, piercing his skin and splashing blood everywhere. Sasuke gasped from his hiding spot as he wasn't expecting them to actually hit; he didn't want to kill the guy.<p>

To his simultaneous relief and consternation, the jonin's body disappeared in a poof of smoke, revealing in its place a wooden log riddled with shuriken.

"Shit, another replacement! He probably knows my location now, thanks to the trajectory of my shuriken," panicked Sasuke, losing his cool, "He showed an opening on purpose and I fell for it! Damn, I'm pathetic."

The Uchiha heir jumped out of his hiding spot in the bushes in order to face the jonin head on; his stealth was compromised anyways. After landing on the ground a few meters from Kakashi's location, Sasuke turned to face his silver-haired sensei.

"Ah, the pride and joy of the elite Uchiha clan," said Kakashi while still holding out his book in front of him, "This should be interesting."

The following battle was a blur, but it started out with another barrage of projectiles launched by the Uchiha, which was evaded by the scarecrow. He quickly followed it up with some _taijutsu_, proving himself skilled enough to force Kakashi to stop reading his porn novel. The prodigy even managed to tip the bells for a split second, but the older man was faster and prevented his student from actually taking them.

After the close-combat exchange, Sasuke continued with _Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu _(Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique ), which Kakashi evaded by hiding underground. The Copy-nin ended the brief skirmish with a _Doton_ technique which resulted in every inch of the Uchiha's body being buried beneath the earth. Except his head that is; giving Sasuke the appearance of being decapitated.

"Well, that's a nice way to conclude our one-on-one session, don't you think, _second best_," said Kakashi while addressing the exposed head, which glared back at him, "Hmm, well anyways…I would say that, right now; you're probably high genin-level at most. You have a lot of the same tricks as Kurama-chan, but she does them better than you and she also has clones."

The raven haired boy growled at him, irritated at being compared to Kurama again. He knew that he was ranked after her; this moron didn't have to keep rubbing it in. He was about to bite back when the jonin disappeared with a pop of smoke.

Meanwhile, Naruto, who was still hiding in the bushes, looked at Sasuke's exposed head and his sister's unconscious body before sighing, "Well, I guess that just leaves me then."

Reaching into his pocket, the blonde haired speedster took out a strange looking kunai. It had a thicker blade than a regular kunai, and looked more like a miniature sword than a throwing knife. The grip and handle were also different, and there was a Leaf insignia on it.

It was a Konoha Chakra Blade.

* * *

><p>The meeting had gone well; all of the council members had accepted the existence of Choetsu with a little explanation from their leader, and some of them were clearly looking forward to meeting the "brother" of the Yondaime Hokage. Minato also managed to explain away his absence as business that had to do with Choetsu's latest S-rank mission.<p>

After the topic of the Rikudou Hiraishin was over and done with, they moved on to the issue of the Hyuuga Hinata's failed kidnapping. Some council members, like Hiashi and Danzo, wanted to press for compensations from the Hidden Cloud, which would likely lead to some sort of conflict due to the already high-strung tension between Konoha and Kumo at the time.

Thankfully, saner minds prevailed, as the information taken from the captive Kumo nin swayed the majority of the council to a peaceful resolution.

Other issues were also discussed. In the next few hours that council was in session, Minato was able to solve numerous minor disputes between different clans, fix a flaw in the economic budget, and even got just a tad bit closer to finally ending that inhumane Caged Bird practice within the Hyuuga clan, among other things.

Overall, he felt that it was a rather productive meeting; better than he expected it to be. But now was the hard part…

"Everyone, before we conclude this meeting as over," began Minato, "I have an important announcement to make pertaining to the information that Inoichi-san was able to extract from our prisoner."

All eyes were on him…but his eyes were on Danzo.

"With my authority as the Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf, I hereby place council member and village elder, Shimura Danzo, under arrest!"

TBC

A.N. And we're done. Hope you guys enjoyed; sorry if I only brushed briefly over Sasuke's fight with Kakashi, but it's basically the same as canon. Next week will conclude the bell test with Naruto vs Kakashi, woot woot! And things aren't looking too good for Danzo. Finally, I want to start some voting on a few issues with the plot; same as last time, tell me what you guys think in reviews. Would you guys rather have Sasuke paired with Kurama, or Sasuke paired with Sakura? And for the record, this is just to choose who Sasuke might finally end up with; it doesn't mean that if you choose one, then you can't have any romantic moments involving the other. Give me your opinions by reviewing, people!


	14. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I OWN NARUTO! THAT'S RIGHT; WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT...-OW OW OW! Stop, okay, I get it. I don't own Naruto (sniffles), just please don't hurt me...

Author's Note: This week we have the conclusion of the bell test, with Naruto vs Kakashi! Meanwhile, Danzo is in a rough spot with the Hokage and his fellow council members! But enough of that, onward to the story!

Chapter 13: A Swathe of Destruction

Naruto watched a swirling vortex of leaves, mesmerized by the strange phenomenon as if he was trapped in a trance. His mind was being assaulted by unusual, exotic stimuli; a melody of whispering voices, a multitude of otherworldly scents, the caress of ghost hands and phantom fingers, and the oddest feeling of butterflies in his stomach.

Soon enough, the vortex of leaves faded away, leaving Naruto in an empty clearing. Hearing a voice behind him, Naruto turned around to find…his sister Kurama, bleeding all over and riddled with an assortment of kunai, shuriken, and other weapons as if she was some kind of human pincushion.

Naruto smirked before making a tiger seal and yelling, "_Kai_!" causing the image of Kurama to fade away.

"Impressive," said a voice in the distance, "You were able to see through my illusion and counter it; to think that someone as young as you would already know how to dispel _genjutsu_. Aren't you supposed to be the dead last?"

"That's what everyone tells me," replied Naruto coolly, as he turned to face his jonin-sensei, who was leaning against the bark of a tree with a lazy expression on what could be seen of his face.

"Well, dead last or not," said Kakashi while taking out _Icha Icha Paradise_, "This should at least prove to be amusing."

* * *

><p>"<em>With my authority as the Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf, I hereby place council member and village elder, Shimura Danzo, under arrest<em>!"

The council was in uproar.

"What is the meaning of this, Hokage-sama!" exclaimed one civilian council member while standing up; Minato recalled the man as being an avid supporter of Shimura.

The war hawk himself was keeping his cool, but the Yondaime could easily see that behind his stoic expression were feelings of fear and apprehension. The only people in the room that were not in a state of bewilderment, besides Inoichi and himself, were his two advisors, Hiashi and Shikaku, who were both informed of Minato's plans to oust the ROOT leader prior to the meeting.

"On what grounds are you basing this decision, Yondaime-sama?" asked Aburame Shibi.

"I am accusing Danzo of crimes including but not limited to: illegal experimentation, both attempted and successful kidnapping, maintaining the use of certain shinobi organizations in the village against my will, running operations in foreign countries without my approval, and stealing bloodline property belonging to two of Konoha's incorporated shinobi clans. Inoichi will be providing you with all of my proof in just a moment."

The Yamanaka clan head stood again before heading to the center of the council chambers in order to present his evidence. He showed the council the data he had extracted from Fu's mind, showing ROOT's involvement in the Forbidden Scroll Incident as well as other unauthorized clandestine operations, and he even brought in a restrained Mizuki to act as a witness. The fugitive, who had been beaten and interrogated for the last two days, was willing to rat out Danzo to the council.

Finally, Minato himself presented an impressive repertoire of evidential pieces which he had been gathering together in preparation for when he would finally be able to get rid of the giant thorn in his side called Shimura Danzo and his ROOT division. All he needed was a centerpiece, and the Forbidden Scroll Incident as well as Danzo's involvement in it was exactly that.

Despite the tremendous amount of proof against him, Danzo was still a highly influential member of council. His supporters were fighting back diligently, denying the Hokage's accusations one after the other. But they were losing ground, and it didn't help that the war hawk himself wasn't very active in the debate. He didn't seem to react very much to any of the crimes being held against him or the evidence being piled up in his opponent's favor.

Minato was a bit unnerved at this; he knew that if Danzo was still acting this calm and collected even after everything, then the ROOT leader must be planning something. And with a person like him, that was never good.

That's when he felt it; a tugging on his consciousness that only happened when his special anti-genjutsu seal was triggered. Someone was trying to influence him using illusionary techniques, and a very powerful one at that. Thankfully, he had made modifications to the AGS in recent years; not only could it detect and automatically break him out of any genjutsu, but now it could also inform him of the nature of the genjutsu, as well as the location of the user at the time it was casted.

In this case, his AGS was pointing in one direction and one direction only…

"Pardon me, Danzo-san, but I would really appreciate it if you stopped trying to hypnotize me with that Sharingan of yours," announced Minato in the middle of an argument between Inoichi and one of Shimura's supporters, "We're in the middle of an important meeting."

Danzo's visible eye widened in complete and utter distress while the rest of the council members were stupefied; but none moreso than one Uchiha Fugaku, who was gaping with his mouth open and giving a good impression of a blow fish.

"S-s-sharingan…w-what do you mean, H-Hokage-sama?" stuttered Fugaku, unable to comprehend Minato's statement.

Minato sighed before creating a single _kage bunshin_ without seals. The shadow clone instantly teleported to the right-hand side of the meeting chamber before taking a kunai and throwing it at Danzo from the side. So accurate was the clone's aim that the only thing cut were the bandages covering Danzo's right eye, before the kunai continued on its path until it became embedded in the opposite wall and the clone dispelled itself.

By the way, this all happened so quickly that no one in the entire room (with the exception of a certain ANBU Commander hiding in the shadows) noticed anything until the clone was already gone.

The council watched speechlessly as the sliced bandages around the war hawk's eye came undone, revealing a genuine Sharingan underneath it.

"What is the meaning of this, Danzo!" yelled an enraged Fugaku, "Why do you have one of our eyes in that socket of yours?"

"Yes, do tell," said Minato smugly from his stand, "How exactly did you come across that bloodline. If I recall, my student Kakashi is the only non-Uchiha in the village who is allowed to bear the Sharingan legally."

The entire council watched in earnest, anxiously awaiting the accused man's response. They all knew what would happen now; one way or another, Danzo would be arrested or killed today, and even his closest supporters could not deny it.

Narrowing his eyes with utter contempt for the Hokage, Danzo gave a loud, unbecoming swear before immediately making a break for the nearest exit, running away with surprising speed for his age. Before his attempt at fleeing from the council room was successful, a black bur flickered in front of him just as he was about to reach the door. It was a man dressed in an all-black ANBU cloak and wearing a terrifying crow's mask.

"I'm afraid that I can't let you go, Danzo-sama," said the ANBU Commander, "I also apologize for eliminating the ROOT agents you had stationed secretly around the room."

The ex-council member now fugitive swore again before starting the hand seal sequence for a devastating A-Rank _Fuuton_, but before he could complete them a kunai was driven into his heart, courtesy of the Crow ANBU.

"My apologies again, Danzo-sama, but I seem to have dealt you a fatal wound," deadpanned the masked shinobi. Danzo rolled his eyes before coughing up a copious amount of blood. The ANBU followed that up by twisting the kunai torturously, causing even more pain for the soon-to-be dead man.

"You're…being…awfully…brutal about this," commented the dying elder between excruciatingly agonizing breaths.

"I have every right to be," replied the ANBU Commander, "That's my best friend's eyeball in your socket, after all."

Danzo's eyes widened; he knew exactly who was behind the mask now. But it was too late; giving one final cough of blood, the old war hawk died…or so they thought.

Because once the radical elder's eyes became shut, his body started to morph and twist and warp until it was a completely different form. In the place of Danzo was a nameless middle aged man with scraggly brown hair and pupil-less eyes. He was wearing the same clothes as the man he was disguised as, and the wound given to him by the Crow-masked ninja was still present.

"Could it be…a _Shoten _clone," muttered the ANBU Commander before all of the exploding tags hidden under the dead scapegoat's robe exploded at point blank…

* * *

><p>Kakashi watched as Naruto took out a kunai and twirled it between his fingers, before gripping it in front of his face in a reverse position. It wasn't an ordinary kunai either.<p>

'_What, is that a chakra blade…but if he's using that, then that means he can-…_'

Flash.

Kakashi's thoughts were interrupted when Naruto's chakra blade found itself embedded in the Copy-nin's chest. The scarecrow gasped out loud in pain, as he stared wide-eyed at the genin who had just flickered in front of him with a yellow flash.

'_It can't be; was that Hiraishin. No…it was just a shunshin. A very fast shunshin; it looks like there's a lot more to my little brother than it seems_,' mused the impaled shinobi.

"Give it up, Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto with a grin, "I know you're just a clone, so dispel your self already."

"Hmph, some dead last you are," chuckled Kakashi's clone before popping in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto found himself alone in the clearing again as he searched around for the real Kakashi with his eyes. He was at a disadvantaged now thanks to that clone feint. The only reason he was able to take Kakashi off-guard with his speed was because the copycat wasn't expecting anything like that from the supposed dead last. Now that the masked man was ready for him, a jonin of his level should easily be able to react to him in the future.

"Alright, Kakashi-sensei; if you don't come out right now, I'm cutting a swathe of destruction through the forest until I find you!" yelled Naruto while he accumulated chakra in his special kunai, causing it to glow with an aura of sapphire radiance.

'_He's pretty loud; and what is he talking about_,' mused Kakashi while watching the blonde boy from behind a tree,_ 'Pshh, a "swathe of destruction", he's only a genin, he can't_…'

Kakashi's eyes widened as he witnessed Naruto flash forward with another shunshin, becoming a radiant yellow blur with his chakra blade dragging behind him. At the velocity he was moving at, the wind chakra being emitted from his blade elongated and became a literal swathe of destruction, cutting through trees, bushes, and rocks as the yellow blur of light made a trail through the forest, leaving behind glowing afterimages in his wake.

When he was done, a 50 meter line of devastation was made into the forest. It took all of one second.

Kakashi raised his eyebrows at the level of mass destruction, '_A little excessive for a genin, in my opinion. And that technique he used…was it ninjutsu? No, I don't think so; I didn't see any sign of hand seals or anything. My guess is that he combined the speed of his shunshin with that wind chakra blade. Well, I better go show myself before he causes more property damage_…'

Meanwhile, Sasuke, whose lower body was still stuck underground, had watched the swathe of destruction but didn't see who caused it.

"Man, the dobe is getting his ass kicked hard by Kakashi," muttered the ignorant pre-teen.

* * *

><p>Naruto decelerated to a skidding halt as he left the body flicker. The boy stood there, fully alert and on guard while waiting for his sensei to appear. He wasn't disappointed when Kakashi appeared behind him with a pop of smoke and tried to take him out with a karate chop to the neck. Emphasis on try, because Naruto immediately vanished in a yellow blur before reappearing over ten meters away.<p>

"If I didn't know any better," began the scarecrow, "I would think that you were using your father's Flying Thunder God technique."

Naruto grinned and replied, "Boy, I wish I actually knew that badass jutsu; it would make a lot of things way easier." Naruto then braced himself before releasing a burst of chakra from his feet, initiating another shunshin; this time, the swift genin reappeared behind his teacher and made a slashing motion with the chakra blade.

Kakashi reacted in time, dodging the physical blade but finding the front of his vest cut open by the invisible chakra aspect.

"No way, he's using the same _Hien _technique as Asuma," muttered Kakashi softly under his breath as he dodged another slash, "And combined with that flickering motion of his shunshin technique…he's actually pushing me."

"What was that, Kakashi-sensei?" yelled Naruto as he threw a few shuriken at the man. Kakashi prepared himself to dodge, but Naruto was ready. Forming a set of seals so fast that only the Sharingan could keep up, Naruto gathered wind chakra into his palm before releasing it, "_Fuuton: Reppusho _(Wind Release: Gale Palm)!"

"Shit! The shuriken are too fast!" exclaimed Kakashi as his body was nailed by the barrage of projectiles, accelerated by a gust of wind. His body immediately exploded in smoke, revealing a log in his place. Naruto cursed at the jonin's use of _kawarimi_ to escape his attack, before the whisker-faced Namikaze was forced to dodge a fist from his left side.

"Heh, you're pretty good after all," said Kakashi, "You managed to throw shuriken and complete that wind jutsu of yours before they hit me. And that handseal speed is intense!"

"Thanks, sensei, but I'm not done yet!" exclaimed Naruto with determination before blitzing Kakashi. The agile speedster reappeared on Kakashi's side before sending a powerful spinning kick to the jonin, who blocked it with both arms. Naruto flashed again, this time to Kakashi's other side, attacking the Cyclops's exposed backside with a punch. Kakashi evaded it with a somersault before the Copy-nin finally countered by trying to knee Naruto in the face. The genin was too fast for him; disappearing at the last moment with a yellow flash.

The next few minutes of battle continued just like that, with Naruto using the body flicker to outmaneuver Kakashi, appearing and reappearing at random locations around the jonin before delivering powerful, fast attacks and flickering away before the jonin could counter attack.

Kakashi was very impressed; there must have been a major mistake made at the academy. This boy wasn't the dead last. In fact, he was better than the top-ranked student, who was his own sister by the way.

"You're pretty fast for a dead last, but can you handle this," said Kakashi before tunneling underground with an Earth Release technique. Naruto's eyes widened; he wasn't particularly adept at detecting attacks from below ground. Hopefully his speed and reflexes would be able to make up for it.

Suddenly, a hand shot out of the ground. It tried to grab onto Naruto's legs, but the Hokage's son was quick on his feet. After evading the subterranean assault, Naruto threw a kunai with an attached exploding tag at the spot where the hand had come from. The ground exploded, but Naruto noticed that the hand had retreated before it could get caught in the blast.

'_I'm still holding back a lot, but this kid is definitely pushing me more than any of his teammates. This is the first time in all my years giving the bell test that I actually had to go on the offensive_,' thought Kakashi while he was tunneling underground. Once he reached the spot directly below where he had sensed Naruto, the Copy-nin burst out of the earth, kicking up dust and rocks before trying to stab Naruto with his kunai.

The blonde-haired twelve-year old flashed away again, to Kakashi's annoyance.

"Is spamming shunshin all you got? Or do you have more tricks up your sleeve?" taunted the silver-haired shinobi.

"Why don't you see for your self," retorted Naruto while going through a series of hand seals, "_Wind Release: Stream_!" The Fuuton-user inhaled a breath filled with wind chakra in his mouth before firing it at the ground in front of Kakashi, kicking up a profuse quantity of dust and dirt. This resulted in the formation of a dust cloud surrounding the silver-haired jonin, which completely reduced all visibility.

Kakashi closed his one visible eye, no longer needing it, and began focusing on his other senses. His sense of smell was extremely good, but it was more attuned to tracking an individual, not preempting attacks. Listening for Naruto would probably be a better option.

After hearing the sound of projectiles slicing through the air, the Copy-nin brought up a kunai to deflect the incoming shuriken. They were thrown from every direction, making it impossible for the jonin to determine Naruto's actually location. Where could he be? Was he to the right, to the left, above? Or was he…

"Below!" exclaimed Naruto as he burst from the hole that Kakashi had made earlier before delivering a swift, shunshin-assisted uppercut to Kakashi's jaw, knocking him above the dust cloud.

'_Damn it; while I was distracted in the dust cloud, Naruto used the tunnel I dug early to sneak up on me_!'

A brief flicker later and Naruto was hovering above Kakashi, who was still suspended in mid-air. The blonde-haired Namikaze released another stream of wind from his mouth, blowing Kakashi towards the ground with great force. Before the scarecrow could hit the ground, Naruto flickered again, landing directly below Kakashi's eventual point of impact.

The genin jumped; preparing him self to intercept the jonin's falling body and swipe the bells off him. He was successful.

Kakashi collided with the ground at a high enough velocity to cause an explosion and leave behind a small crater, while Naruto jumped away with the bells firmly in his hands. After landing about ten meters from where Kakashi hit the ground, Naruto turned around to look at his sensei, who was just barely getting up and brushing himself off.

"So how'd ya like that last trick, huh, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto while triumphantly holding out the bells.

The slightly bruised jonin gave him an "eye smile" before replying, "Pretty good actually; but I like the trick where "the two disguised miniature smoke bombs that you're holding right now explode with knock out gas and render you unconscious" much better."

"Huh…?" asked Naruto, dumfounded, before the two "bells" he had been proudly dangling from his fingertips just a moment ago suddenly blew up, not giving him any time to react at all and doing exactly what the Copy-nin had said.

"And he was doing so well," said Kakashi with a sigh, "Too bad he didn't notice that the bells he swiped off of me while I was in freefall were total duds. But the kid is good; with that monster shunshin of his, he's probably as fast as Gai's little clone-uh, I mean student. Add the fact that he had some good ninjutsu under his belt, then that easily makes him high-chunin level. Dead last my ass."

Kakashi proceeded to take out the real set of bells from his equipment pouch before reattaching them to his belt. The jonin was about to head off and see if any of his students still had some fight left in them when the alarm signaling the end of the test went off in the distance.

"Oh look, it's that time already. Well, I guess I'm gonna have to round up all my cute little genin now so we can get to the fun part," muttered Kakashi before bringing out _Icha Icha Paradise_ again from his pocket and shunshin-ing away.

* * *

><p>Behind his mask, a perplexed Uchiha Itachi blinked at the empty space in front of him. Of course, empty space is usually not a big deal or anything. However, when said empty space was formerly occupied by a point-blank explosion just a few milliseconds ago, then it's a pretty fucking big deal.<p>

One moment, the ANBU Commander was panicking as the Shoten clone of Danzo blew him self up with enough exploding tags to make the missing Iwa-nin Deidara blush, and then the next moment, he was gone.

All of Itachi's questions were answered, however, with the arrival of a yellow flash. Namikaze Minato was now standing in front of him where the Danzo imposter had just been; he was coughing slightly and his clothes were singed a bit. Other than that, he looked completely uninjured.

"Damn; taking care of suicide bombers with Hiraishin is always a bitch," muttered Minato under his breath before the blonde man turned around and discovered that, to his immediate consternation, the entire council was staring at him with speechless expressions.

"Ah, hello everyone," said the Yondaime sheepishly, "I just want to let you all know that the meeting has been adjourned." All of this, Minato had said in a completely calm and casual tone, as if he hadn't just teleported a suicide bomber out of the council room so quickly that the heat of the already detonated explosion wasn't even able to touch Itachi's mask-covered face.

"What! But Yondaime-sama; what about that bastard Danzo?" demanded an irate Fugaku; clearly still infuriated by the war hawk's possession of his clan's precious dojutsu.

"Yeah; that old mutt must still be alive and kicking if the one that just blew him self up was a fake," spoke Inuzuka Tsume, clan head of the infamous, dog-loving family.

"We have to find the real Danzo," added a civilian council member, "Before he becomes a threat to the village."

Minato sighed before touching the floor with his middle and index fingers together. Closing his eyes, the Hokage concentrated, shutting out all other stimuli. The civilians in the room observed him, utterly perplexed and ignorant of what was going on, while the shinobi present gaped in awe at being able to witness the Nidaime's legendary finger sensing ability, the _Sacred War Pulse_ technique.

After a couple dozen seconds, the blonde-haired Namikaze ended his technique and stood up again before saying, "There, I searched the entire village; Danzo isn't in Konoha anymore. My guess is that he expected me to bring up his crimes at today's meeting, so he fled the village and left an imposter to take his place. If that's the case, than drawing out this meeting would be pointless. If it makes you all feel better, I will have my ANBU searching the surrounding countryside for Danzo and his forces; he shouldn't have been able to get very far in just a couple days."

"Now that we're done with that, all of you are dismissed. Crow, come with me; we have much to discuss," announced Minato while addressing Itachi. The ANBU Commander nodded before following his leader.

* * *

><p>Once the incident in the meeting chambers was over and all of the council members had left, Minato took Itachi with him to his office. Minato made sure to remove any suspected listening devices from the room before proceeding.<p>

"You can take the mask off, Itachi; we have complete privacy in here," said Minato while sitting at his desk. The ANBU Commander complied, removing the Crow mask from his face and revealing his handsome, youthful features. He had dark lines running down his face which he had inherited from his father, and his eyes were a charcoal black. The Uchiha removed his hood, revealing his long raven-hair that ended in a ponytail.

"The eye that Danzo was using; it was Shisui's eye, Minato-sensei," stated Itachi with an air of remorse. Minato's eyebrows rose at the statement from the 17-year old.

"I wasn't aware of that; are you sure?"

"I'm positive; I could recognize those eyes from a mile away," answered the prodigy.

"Well then, this complicates things a whole lot," commented the Hokage with a hint of annoyance in his voice. If Danzo had just any old Sharingan in his socket, then it wouldn't raise too many alarms, at least not with him. But Uchiha Shisui's eyes…those were special.

"Did he try using "that" ability on you?" questioned Itachi with concern.

The Yondaime shook his head, "No; if he had used that, then he would have won. _Kotoamatsukami_ is the only genjutsu I know of that's powerful enough to bypass my seal. Even your _Tsukuyomi_…"

"Do you think he may have used it on anyone else," interjected Itachi. The Sharingan-user was very worried about the possibility of high-ranking Konoha officials being swayed to Danzo's side by his late friend's dojutsu.

"None that I know of; but then again, since your friend's…untimely death, Danzo has been getting a lot of support on the council. I fear that he may have already used Shisui's eye to manipulate politics in the village."

"No; one or two council members being swayed to his side maybe, but getting that much support can't be blamed on that genjutsu," argued Itachi, "Koto can only be used once a decade for each eye, and he only has one."

"Are you sure; we know that Danzo has been collaborating with Orochimaru. Maybe the Snake Sannin's experiments could have…altered the capabilities of Shisui's Mangekyo."

"I find the possibility of that happening…extremely disconcerting."

"I do too," replied Minato, with his hands folded together in front of his face in a thinking position, "By the way; do you still have Shisui's…other eye?"

The elder Uchiha clan heir gave him a nod of confirmation, "Yes, it is still in my possession."

"Good; we can't have the other eye falling into Danzo's possession, or any enemy of the Leaf for that matter."

"Acutally, sensei, I think it would be a better idea if I entrusted you with Shisui's left eye."

"What!"

* * *

><p>"Why am I the one tied up, exactly?" questioned Sasuke as he glared at his jonin instructor with his entire body roped to a wooden stump. His two teammates were to each side of him; Naruto to the right, and Kurama to the left. The two bento boxes containing food were laid out in front of them. Kakashi himself was standing in a laidback position with his hands in his pockets, just across from his three students.<p>

"Because you're the hungriest, which means that I can get the most pain and suffering out of tying you up," answered Kakashi, causing Sasuke to glare at him even harder, "And also, because you did the worse out of all your teammates."

The raven-haired Uchiha's eyes widened at the jonin's last statement, "You're kidding me! How could I be the worst when you have Naruto here! He was getting his ass kicked!"

"Oh, on the contrary; Naruto was actually putting up quite a fight," said Kakashi, "He would have been able to take both bells too, if I hadn't switch them out for fakes at the last minute."

"B-But how; Naruto's the dead last! You must have been faking it when you were fighting him, because there's no possible way that he could…be…that…good…" began Sasuke before losing his train of thought when his mind started reminiscing about a certain taijutsu match the other day.

'_Damn it, dobe, was that speed you showed off during our spar a fluke or not? Or are you really that fast_?'

"Well, the academy must have made a serious mistake when they were evaluating Naruto, because he's probably the most talented genin I've ever seen," praised Kakashi, causing the blonde-haired boy to beam at his surrogate older brother's compliment.

"Well, enough of that," continued the Copy-nin, "Would you guys like to hear your results?"

"We're all getting sent back to the academy, aren't we," muttered Kurama dejectedly.

"Yeah, none of us got a bell."

"Hn."

"Actually, no," replied the silver-haired jonin, "There's no need for any of you to go back to the academy."

"Huh, but we didn't get the bells," muttered Kurama under her breath, "Does that mean we still pass?"

"Yes! Then that means all three of us…" exclaimed Naruto enthusiastically.

"Yup, all three of you," began Kakashi, "should just quit being ninjas."

* * *

><p>"So, explain to me again; why do you want to give me Shisui's left eye?" questioned Minato while he maintained the pseudo-staring contest that had manifested between him and his Uchiha apprentice ever since the 17-year old had brought up the subject.<p>

"It would be better for the eye to stay with you…just in case Danzo ever tries to control you with Kotoamatsukami," explained Itachi with an unwavering gaze, "Shisui's other eye is the only thing I know of that can counter Koto, if even your anti-genjutsu seal proves inadequate."

"But what about you?" replied Minato with a worried look, "Without the eye, what's stopping Danzo from controlling you?"

"Absolutely nothing," answered Itachi matter-of-factly.

"Then I disapprove; I can't have the commander of my entire ANBU force become mind-fucked by a traitor."

"It's a better alternative than having the leader of the entire village become controlled; if Danzo was able to get me on his side, you could stop me. I'm not so sure if that will work vice-versa…"

Minato sighed before taking on an expression of deep thought. Honestly, Itachi's plan made perfect, logical sense. It would be infinitely worse for the Hokage to become controlled than the ANBU Commander; at least Itachi had checks on his power in the form of immediate superiors. Minato's only checks were the council, and they were overall considered his inferiors in terms of authority.

But still; the plan didn't sit right with the Yondaime. Shisui's eye was a gift to Itachi after…the incident with his death a few years back. It was Itachi's last memento of his late best friend, and it would be wrong to take it.

But village security came before his own personal feelings, so Minato grudgingly accepted Itachi's proposal. He watched as the raven-haired boy formed hand seals and then with a pop of smoke, a single black crow materialized into existence.

"I'm sorry, sensei, but I hope your gag reflex isn't too bad," muttered the ANBU Commander before his summoned crow dived into Minato's mouth and down his throat, causing the blonde Hokage to choke and gag and cough while the crow forced itself down his esophagus.

After a while, the Yondaime was able to recover from the feeling of having a crow shoved down his throat, and turned to face his subordinate, "Damn you Itachi; you could have at least warned me!"

"But I did," replied the Sharingan-user bluntly.

"Asking if my gag reflex isn't too bad doesn't really count as much of a warning in my book," said Minato with a sigh, "But I lived, so it's alright. Now then; is that all or do you plan on stuffing anything else into my mouth…that came out wrong didn't it?"

"Yes, sensei; yes it did," said Itachi with a light chuckle, "Don't worry though; I won't inform Kushina-san of this occurrence."

"You better not, or else I'll have you going on D-rank missions for a month, ANBU Commander or not."

"I'm shaking in my boots right now, sensei," deadpanned Itachi, "By the way; I heard that Naruto-kun and my brother are on the same genin team."

"Yes they are, along with my daughter Kurama," confirmed Minato with a nod, "Kurama and Sasuke were the top-ranked girl and boy in their class, respectively, while Naruto scored the lowest overall, but he did rather well in the final exam. Based on this, it was determined that those three should be on the same team."

"I never really agreed with the team building formula used by the academy; new genin should be grouped together based on how well their abilities complement each other, not based on what their grades were."

"Yeah, it's not the perfect system, but it's never really failed us before, and most academy graduates don't have their own unique skill sets, unless they're members of a shinobi clan. It isn't until they're older and more experienced that you can start differentiating them based on fighting style."

"That's true; I'm guess I'm just too used to dealing with veteran ANBU to make a good judgment on how to form genin teams in the most efficient matter. But enough of that; who is Team 7's jonin sensei?"

"Kakashi," answered the Hokage.

"Ah, Kakashi-sempai; he's an excellent choice. If any one can bring out Sasuke's full potential as an Uchiha, then it's the infamous Copy-nin."

"Yeah; it also helps that Naruto and Kurama are already quite familiar with him."

"That's good; hopefully, some of Kakashi-sempai's…hobbies don't corrupt my brother or your kids."

"Oh, I'm not worried about Sasuke; he seems just as asexual as you are," said Minato with a smirk, causing Itachi to glare at him, "But Naruto on the other hand; with Jiraiya as his godfather, Sarutobi-sama as his grandfather figure, and now Kakashi as his sensei…I fear for my son's chastity…"

* * *

><p>A pale, pasty boy of no more than twelve walked down the dark, foreboding hallway with a silver tray of food. He had raven hair and was wearing a black, long sleeve shirt and black shorts that went down past his knees. There was an ink brush held behind his ears, and the boy displayed a stoic expression on his pale face.<p>

After the boy had reached the main door at the end of the hall, he reverently knocked with one hand while holding the tray carefully with his other one. The voice of an old man greeted him from the other side of the door, beseeching him to enter, which he did.

Opening the door revealed none other than Shimura Danzo himself, sitting at a black, leather couch with an opened scroll in his hands. He as wearing his usual attire and both his right eye and arm were likewise in their usual bandaged state.

"Ah, Sai; thank you for bringing my food to me," said the old war hawk with gratitude.

"You're welcome, Danzo-sama," replied the talented drawer with a bow.

"It's seems that I've been compromised."

"Sir?"

"That damn Minato destroyed the imposter clone I was possessing with _Shoten no Jutsu_ after accusing me of treason at today's council meeting. He even provided evidence to boot and revealed my Sharingan to the entire council. Because of him, I can no longer set foot in Konoha anytime in the near future," grumbled Danzo with a hint of resentment.

"I'm sorry sir; it seems that going into hiding here in the Land of Rice Paddies was a good idea, after all," replied the juvenile ROOT agent.

"Yes, yes it was. But now, more than ever, I must remain hidden; if the Yellow Flash finds us, there will be no stopping him."

"Just remember not to lead the Yondaime here," said a new voice from the shadows behind Danzo's couch, "My preparations for dealing with that man aren't quite complete yet. I can't afford to have him find me just as much as you can't."

"Don't worry, _Orochimaru_," replied Danzo, addressing the pale, snake-like Sannin standing in the shadows, "ROOT and I plan on leaving this little hideout of yours momentarily. Our stay here is only temporary, and once we have left, we will be heading to _Kaminari no Kuni_ for asylum. By the way, these…"preparations" you've been talking about; how exactly do you plan on dealing with that bastard Namikaze."

"You will know soon enough, Danzo," said the Snake Sannin with a disconcerting smile, "You will know soon enough."

"Just don't forget your part of the deal, Orochimaru."

"Yes, I know, I know; I'll leave enough of Konoha intact for you to rule over," muttered Orochimaru dismissively, "After I invade and destroy it, that is…"

* * *

><p>Shizuka stared intently at the rusty, silver, wheel-shaped cog laid out on its side in front of her. The cog was resting on a thin wooden plank, and was the first phase in a long series of causes and effects that would eventually, hopefully, supposedly lead to the achievement of her goal.<p>

Focusing all her concentration in one, metaphysical point in her mind, the princess of Nadeshiko reached an ethereal state between serenity and rage that accompanied the activation of her new dojutsu, the legendary Rinnegan. She pushed this feeling outward with her very being, but at that critical second that it ballooned from her mind, she reeled it back in, restraining it once more, before sending it out with a gentler impulse. The physical manifestation of her will took the form of a weak, invisible force, no stronger than a light breeze, which pushed against the cog.

The cog rolled slightly forward, remaining balanced and never tipping on either side. It rolled down the wooden plank before colliding lightly with another, larger cog, causing the other cog to start rolling itself. The large cog rolled further until it hit another, medium sized cog that fell over the plank.

The last cog fell on top of some contraption that resulted in a large screw rolling sideways and then lightly pushing against a muffler-like object. The muffler-like object spun around counter-clockwise before its end hit a few screws resting on top of a shiny surface curved slightly downwards, causing the screws to roll down the surface and land on top of another nameless contraption. After being triggered, the contraption caused a plastic plate to fall over and hit a wheel that rolled and hit another wheel and another.

The last wheel fell and triggered the activation of more mechanisms, which resulted in more objects falling and colliding and rolling and spinning, which lead to more contraptions activating and so and so forth until finally, after about two minutes of over-engineered cause and effect, an unusual device was triggered by the last phase before it and made to press a button, which opened a previously locked, automatic door in the room Shizuka was present in. Having watched the entire chain of events and seeing the door in her room finally open in the end, the new Rinnegan-user was filled with immense elation and began jumping up for joy, shouting in utter glee to the Heavens.

She did not know it, but, in another universe, the complex device she had just witnessed and had been the catalyst for was called a "Rube Golberge" machine.

The twelve-year old girl walked through the now open door cheerfully before finding her sensei and his accomplice in the other room. She greeted them ecstatically, and they responded with little smiles that she knew meant they were extremely proud of her.

"Well done, Shizuka; it seems that you've finally managed to complete the exercise," appraised her new sensei, Uzumaki Nagato, "You were able to control your _Shinra Tensei_ so that it pushed the cog with just enough force to start the entire process without messing it up in any way."

"And you only took 607 tries; much better than Nagato," added Konan, causing Nagato to frown at his new lover.

"Well in my defense, I didn't have a teacher to help me."

"Oh excuses, excuses, Nagato-chan," muttered a new voice from behind the two former orphans. Turning around in mild alarm, Konan and Nagato found their new ally, Uzumaki Choetsu; the _Rikudou Hiraishin_, "Hasn't anyone ever told you; excuses are tools of mediocrity which are used to build monuments of…complete and utter shit."

"Ah, Choetsu-san; what brings you here," greeted Konan while addressing the blonde-haired time traveler, "I thought you were still meditating out in the rain."

"Or "watching the show", as he so eloquently puts it," added in Nagato with a smug smirk.

"Hehehe, if only he knew," muttered Choetsu softly.

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing; don't even worry about it, Nagato-chan," replied the Rikudou Hiraishin dismissively, "Oh, and look who we have here. If it isn't lil' Shizuka-chan; how is your training going so far? Nagato here isn't being a terrible teacher, is he?"

"Oh no; Nagato-sensei is a great teacher," replied the princess respectfully, "Although he fools around with Konan-san too much sometimes in the middle of lessons; it usually involves certain…activites, that I don't believe are considered appropriate around twelve-year olds such as my self. But personally I don't mind."

Choetsu burst out in raw, unrestrained laughter while Konan had the decency to blush. Nagato on the other hand, was furious.

"What the hell are _you_ laughing about!" exclaimed Nagato angrily with the accompaniment of an accusative finger, "It's all those damn hormones you put in my new body that are to be blamed for all this!"

"Calm down, Nagato-chan," replied Choetsu while panting heavily from laughing, "You act as if it's a bad thing."

"He's got a point," muttered Konan, who continued to redden even more. Nagato stared at her as if she was crazy for a long moment before sighing.

"Okay, I give up; as if it was possible for me to ever win an argument with you in the first place," said Nagato, "But enough of that; you should tell me why you came here? I'm sure it wasn't just for a quick hello and some banter, considering that every time you interact with another human being, it seems like there's always some agenda involved."

"You know me so well," replied Choetsu with a smirk, "But alas; I do have a purpose to this meeting. I just wanted to let you know that I'll be leaving for some business I have to deal with soon."

"You're leaving, Choetsu-san? But for how long," questioned Shizuka curiously.

"Oh, not very long; I'll be back in time to accompany Nagato's envoy to Konoha," answered Choetsu.

"What's this business that you're going on?" inquired Nagato with his eyes narrowed in suspicion, "Something that I should know about? Will it affect the well-being of my village?"

"Not really; maybe a little indirectly it will, but everything that happens in the world has some sort of indirect effect on everything else. It's the whole Butterfly Effect thingy and all that crap. All I'm gonna do is convert a character who was a villain in another timeline into a good guy, just like I did with you two! Come to think of it…in that other timeline, all three of you were from the same evil organization of evil, so that means you have even more in common! I think that's a perfectly good reason to have a steamy threesome. Woo hoo! Steamy threesomes! Although I prefer ones with two girls and a guy or all girls, but I think you three will do just fine…" digressed Choetsu, unable to remain on topic.

"Uh what the hell are you talking about…?" muttered both Konan and Nagato in confusion.

"That's amazing Choetsu-san! You have such a creative imagination. Do you think I could bring Sagiri along too," commented Shizuka while in lalaland. She was starting to develop a rather large blush on her face and began giggling like a fan girl.

"LEAVE ALREADY BEFORE YOU FULLY CORRUPT MY STUDENT!" screamed an enraged Nagato, completely red in the face; and not from blushing either.

"Alright, alright; you don't have to get your panties all in a bunch," said Choetsu with his arms held defensively in front of his face, "Geez, I never seem to get any appreciation in this universe, do I? Well, if any one needs me, I'll be somewhere in the Land of Wind. Maybe…" The sapphire Rinnegan-user subsequently vanished in a burst of golden luminosity.

Seeing that the source of his frustration had left, Nagato sighed before cupping his head into the palm of his hands, "Thank god he's gone; I don't think I could've handled another minute dealing with that annoying bastard!"

Konan simply patted her companion and lover on the back sympathetically, while Shizuka continued to giggle in the background.

* * *

><p>"All three of you," said Kakashi with an alarmingly serious expression, "should just quit being ninja."<p>

"What!" exclaimed Sasuke, Naruto, and Kurama in unison with looks of shock and trepidation engraved on their faces.

"Quit as ninja! What the hell do you mean by that?" questioned Naruto fiercely. The blonde boy was glaring intensely at his surrogate brother, who was entirely unfazed by the twelve-year old's rising temper.

"I understand that we weren't able to get the bells, Kakashi-nii-san," interjected Kurama while trying to calm her brother down, "But why do we have to quit. We aren't…that bad, are we?"

"No; on the contrary, all three of you have immense individual talent for rookie genin," replied Kakashi. His statement did nothing but leave his three students even more perplexed.

"Well if that's the case," began Sasuke, who was still tied to the stump, "Then how come you're still failing us? That doesn't make any sense!"

"Because all of you…are lacking in something that makes us ninjas who we are; despite all of your individual talent and all of your skill, none of you displayed what I was really looking for," remarked the Copy-nin cryptically.

"What you were really looking for; what does that even mean?" inquired Kurama curiously.

"You guys aren't getting the solution to this test; the question that you should be asking yourselves," continued the jonin-sensei, "is why exactly were you all divided and placed into teams of three."

Naruto's eyes widened; gears began turning in his head as his mind started to grasp what exactly Kakashi was trying to convey to them, "I think I know where you're going with this, Kakashi-sensei. The "something" that you were looking for is…"

"That's right, Naruto; it's…teamwork," finished the silver-haired ninja. The other two genin gasped at Kakashi's revelation; both were clearly surprised. "The three of you working together may have gotten a bell."

"What do you mean by teamwork? There are only two bells!" exclaimed Kurama, "Even if we work together and get all of the bells, at least one of us will still fail! That just makes us fight amongst ourselves!"

"Exactly," replied Kakashi with a smirk behind his mask, "The test is designed to make you fight each other."

"What!"

"The purpose is to see whether you can forget about your own self-interest," continued the scarecrow, "and work together as a team."

"…Yet you guys did everything on your own. Even Naruto and Kurama, who I expected to have good teamwork, didn't bother working with each other. Just remember, our missions as shinobi are accomplished as a group effort; of course, individual ability is important…but what's even more important is teamwork."

Kakashi let his speech sink in as he noticed the thoughtful looks on his three students' faces. He hoped that he was finally able to get through to them; if they weren't able to grasp the true meaning behind his words, then they would fail the final part of the test. Unlike all of the previous years' genin that he had failed, Kakashi genuinely wanted this team to pass. Naruto and Kurama were his younger siblings in all but blood, and he sincerely wanted them to go on to become incredible shinobi.

"Look, I'll give you guys one more chance. But after lunch I'll make it even tougher to get a bell," said Kakashi while turning his back to the genin and slowly walking away, "Those who still wish to take the test can eat, but don't give any food to Sasuke. Or else. Any one who feeds him will fail immediately. Here, I am the law. Understood?"

All three genin nodded reluctantly, even Sasuke, who was displaying a noticeably pained appearance as a result of hunger and his punishment of not being able to eat. Seeing that his students had all agreed to his terms, Kakashi gave a little off-hand wave before vanishing in a poof of smoke.

Naruto and Kurama immediately sat down and began opening the bento boxes. Taking out a pair of chopsticks each, the two siblings began eating the lunches provided for them by their sensei. However, their meal was quickly interrupted by a noisy growling sound originating from Sasuke's empty stomach. Looking back, they found the Uchiha averting his eyes in shame.

Filled with pity for the starving boy, Kurama took her bento box and reluctantly handed it to Sasuke, beckoning him to eat. Both her brother and the raven-haired twelve year-old were astonished by her actions.

"Um, Kurama, you know that Kakashi-nii's going to be pissed at what you're doing," whispered Naruto in concern, "If you give him food, he might…"

"Don't worry Nii-san, I don't sense Kakashi-sensei anywhere," replied Kurama dismissively, "And besides, if Sasuke here goes hungry, he won't be of any use to us during round two."

Naruto grinned as he realized the logic in Kurama's argument. Thinking that it wouldn't hurt to try, the blonde-haired Namikaze promptly followed his sister's example and offered his own food to the Uchiha boy who was looking at his two teammates in utter amazement.

'_Kurama, Dobe; why are you two being so nice to me_?' Sasuke would have refused the offered food out of pride, but his grumbling stomach was being very persuasive. Just as Sasuke was about to take a bite out of some chicken that Kurama was holding out for him, an enormous cloud of smoke ballooned in the clearing right in front of the three, instantly shocking the hell out of all of them.

"YOU GUYS!" raged Kakashi with a demonic appearance, causing Naruto, Kurama, and Sasuke to quiver in terror.

"…pass."

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Hn?"

All three genin blinked simultaneously in confusion at their jonin-sensei, who had just gone from imitating a pissed-off Umino Iruka to giving them one of his infamous eye smiles in mirth.

"W-we passed…but why?" asked Kurama.

"Yep; you three are actually the very first; all of the other idiots just did what I told them."

"Uh, I'm still confused here…" muttered Naruto with a sweatdrop.

Kakashi sighed, "Listen; a ninja must be able to see underneath the underneath, they must be able to recognize the lies and deceptions from what is reality. Now, it is true that those who break the law are considered trash…"

"But you know what," continued Kakashi, "Those who don't care about their comrades…are even worse than trash."

Naruto's, Sasuke's, and Kurama's eyes all widened in initial disbelief followed by relief then elation. They were all ecstatic, even the usually stoic Uchiha. Naruto and Kurama gave each other enormous grins while Sasuke smirked smugly despite the fact that he was still tied to the stump. Kakashi, who had lost every bit of seriousness he had just a few minutes ago, promptly gave the three genin a big thumbs-up.

"And now that that's over with; all of you pass! Starting tomorrow, Team 7 will begin our first mission!" declared Kakashi, causing all of his students to start cheering, even Sasuke, although he was quite reluctant and reserved about it; not nearly as boisterous as the two hyperactive Namikaze.

After the brief celebration was over, Kakashi quickly untied his raven-haired student. Everyone present prepared themselves to leave the clearing and go home, but the Copy-nin stopped Naruto before he could leave and told the others to give them some private space and discussion time.

Turning towards his blonde student, Kakashi began, "So, mind telling me why your performance in today's exam completely contradicted every single bit of info I've received from the academy pertaining to you. And don't make up some bullshit about the academy making a mistake; not even they could possibly fuck up your ranking as much as is apparent today."

Naruto sighed; he knew that he would have to deal with this situation eventually, ever since he promised himself and his sister that he would stop hiding his skill after they graduated. "Well, you see, Kakashi-sensei; the truth is…"

"Wait! Don't tell me yet; let me try to guess on my own," interrupted the masked ninja, causing Naruto to raise his eyebrows in amusement as his sensei/non-biological older brother adopted a stereotypical thinking position; with his right elbow resting on his left palm and his fingers stroking his chin.

"Well, i think I have you all figured out now," stated the Copy-nin confidently after a couple dozen seconds of pondering, "The reason why you're a much better shinobi all of a sudden…is because you're actually from an alternate future where a terrible catastrophe took place, resulting in the death of everyone you love and hold dear. As a result, you went on a rampage of vengeance in order to kill the ones you believe are responsible, but this inadvertently caused your own death. However, while your soul was about to cross the threshold between life and death, a mysterious and eccentric individual appeared before you and offered you a second chance. You decided to take it and your mind gets sent back in time. With all of your knowledge and experience from the future, you were able to turn your current self into an extremely competent ninja. And now your quest is to save the world and rewrite the wrong that plagued and destroyed your original timeline. Am I right?"

Naruto simply looked at the Cyclops as if he was clinically insane.

"Umm, no; you're very, very wrong. That's not true at all. But you definitely get points for creativity, Kakashi-sensei," replied the Hokage's son with a grin and a thumbs-up, causing Kakashi to deflate comically.

"You mean that's not what happened; damn it! And I was so sure of myself too!" whined the jonin.

"Sorry, Kakashi-sensei, but the real truth…is that I've been hiding my talent as a shinobi up until now. That's why I'm ranked in the academy as dead last."

Kakashi's brow raised at this, "Wait; are you telling me that you've been holding back all these years, making everyone think that you were a crappy ninja. That's…that's ridiculous. What I want to know though, is why? Why go to all the trouble?"

Naruto's face took on a melancholic expression before he replied, "It's…a long story."

"We've got time still."

"Okay, okay, fine; I'll tell you my story. The reason why I've been hiding and wearing a mask all this time was due to a certain incident that took place in my first year at the academy. It had to do with a certain boy…his name was Hyuuga Neji…"

TBC

A.N. Did you guys really think I would kill off Danzo that quickly. Hehehe. He still has a role to play in the story to come. But don't worry; Danzo will get his just desserts for trying to kidnap Kurama and all the other slimy, lowball crap he's ever involved himself in (*cough*Kabuto's childhood*cough*).

Also, just wanted to let you guys know that Sacred War Pulse is just my original fanname for the unnamed finger sensing ability used by Tobirama and Minato in canon. And finally, if any of you are wondering why Shisui still died even though the Uchiha Massacre didn't happen; don't fret, that will be explained in future chapters.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Read and review, people; the more reviews I get the faster I update, seriously!


	15. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and I should seriously hire a team to write more witty and original disclaimers for me. I'm running out of ideas already.

Author's Note: Well, here's Chapter 14 for you folks. You guys finally get to learn why Naruto's been acting like a total dumbass for the last few years! So without further adeu...

Chapter 14: In the Shadows of Greatness

Flashback:

_A ten-year old Naruto lazed underneath the shade of an old tree located just outside the front entrance of Konoha's Ninja Academy. To his left was his twin sister Kurama, who was sitting down Indian-style with a book in her lap. The two Namikaze siblings were waiting for their mother Kushina to pick them up since the school day had just ended._

_It was their first year at the academy; Naruto and Kurama would have been enrolled when they were both seven, but due to a horrific kidnapping that occurred three years ago, Naruto had just recently recovered from the traumatic aftereffects that had prevented him from joining the academy before this school year. Kurama, being the good sibling that she was, decided to wait until her brother was no longer afraid to become a ninja before she herself enrolled. _

_Looking around, Naruto found some of his classmates that he had become acquainted with in the last few months since school began. One Nara Shikamaru was snoozing at another tree, while his buddy Akimichi Chouji devoured bag after bag of fattening potato chips. In the distance, he could see Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino gossiping together with a group of their friends. _

_A boy named Uchiha Sasuke who used to play with Naruto and his sister when they were younger had already left a few minutes ago when his older brother Itachi had picked him up. Likewise, the dog-lover Inuzuka Kiba had been picked up by an older girl who looked like she could be his sister. _

_Naruto was roused from his thoughts when a shrill squeak was heard in the distance. Turning his head towards the direction of the sound, Naruto found another one of his classmates, one Hyuuga Hinata, on the ground in front of her older cousin, an upperclassman named Neji. Hyuuga Neji was a year older than him; he was one of the most talented students in the school and universally considered a shinobi "genius"._

_He was also universally considered an arrogant prick and a major bully. The long-haired boy was always picking on students who he considered failures or "dropouts". Neji also had a tendency to spew crap about fate, and used it to put others down by saying that it was their pre-determined destiny to be a failure. _

_Although his bullying mostly amounted to verbal assaults, when it came to Hinata, his own cousin, Neji had a tendency to become rather physical. No one knew why, but the genius Hyuuga hated his younger relative with a passion. By the looks of it, Neji had just pushed his cousin to the ground, possibly after his verbal bullying had escalated. Hinata, being the timid girl that she was, could not defend herself from her aggressive cousins hounding._

_And Naruto hated it._

_He didn't really talk to Hinata very often, but he could tell from the way she acted that the girl was very sweet at heart. Hinata only acted weak because she genuinely didn't want to step on other people's toes. She didn't deserve any of the maltreatment she received from Neji._

_Unable to take it any longer, Naruto stood up from his resting position, and began to make his way to Hinata and Neji's location. Feeling a hand grab onto his ankle, Naruto turned around to find his sister gazing at him with concerned eyes. Naruto quickly gave her a look that wordlessly communicated his desire to be left to his own devices, and then Kurama acquiesced._

_While walking to the two, Naruto noticed that Hinata had tried to stand up, but was once again pushed down while her cousin continued to mock her. Naruto grit his teeth, enraged by Neji's behavior. He could tell that he Hyuuga genius was very angry at the moment; his body language conveyed the feelings of fury within. It was obvious that the current incident of physical abuse was not brought about on a whim, but by rage and aggression._

_When he finally reached the spot, Naruto called out to Neji, "Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing to Hinata-san? You're Hyuuga Neji, right?"_

_"Yes, I am him," replied the genius while his eyes narrowed in contempt for the blonde-haired boy, "and I'm afraid that this doesn't concern you. It's a family matter."_

_"Like hell it's a family matter! You're just plain bullying her! What kind of person does that to his own cousin?" questioned Naruto while raising his voice. A small crowd had already gathered around their location, intrigued by the rising enmity between the Hyuuga genius and the Hokage's son._

_"What do you know about the Hyuuga clan! Just stay out of it, son of the Yondaime. Like I said, this doesn't concern you."_

_"Doesn't concern me my ass; that's my classmate you're harassing right there. Hinata is a nice girl, and she doesn't deserve any of the crap you're giving her," declared Naruto, causing the moon-eyed princess to gape at the boy's efforts to defend her. Nobody had gone to such lengths to protect her from Neji's bullying before, and it completely baffled her. Who was this boy who called himself Namikaze Naruto?_

_"Hinata-sama," spat Neji with a bitter tone, "is weak and a failure. It is her destiny to never amount to anything; I am merely putting her in her place."_

_"Seriously, can you hear the bullshit you're spouting off about right now? Because if you could, I don't think you would continue saying it. All this crap about destiny and pre-determination is just that; crap that people like you use to put others down. If you really think that you're that much better than everyone, and that everyone else is so far below you, then fight me! Fight me, and see if you're rant about fate isn't anything but meaningless drivel or not."_

_"Well, in that case," muttered Neji while entering a Jyuken stance, "Come!"_

_The battle began. It was a fast-paced fight which began with an exchange of taijutsu; Neji's Jyuken versus Naruto's speed and agility. Finding himself outmatched in close-combat, Naruto decided to keep his distance and attack Neji from long-range with kunai and shuriken. This quickly proved to be devastating to the close-range fighter, and Naruto soon had him on the ropes._

_But before Naruto could win, they were interrupted by Iruka-sensei, who stopped the fight and immediately reprimanded both combatants. He gave the two disciplinary consequences for both the fight and Neji's actions towards Hinata, and nearly had them suspended for fighting with the intent to kill. _

_After being chewed out by the chunin instructor, Naruto and Neji were separated and eventually picked up by their respective guardians. _

_The next day, Naruto was approached by Hinata, who tried to say something to him but was unable to articulate herself due to her constant mumbling and her incomprehensible stutter. The twelve-year old blonde likewise noted the extremely red hue to her facial skin tone, prompting the boy to comment on it and ask Hinata if she was sick. This caused the reserved Hyuuga to become even redder in the face. Unable to withstand it any longer, Hinata quickly fled the scene, confusing Naruto even more._

_He assumed that the girl was trying to thank him for yesterday, but was just too nervous to come out with it. What puzzled him though was the way she was acting. Sure, Hyuuga Hinata was shy, and she definitely showed it, but she had never acted to that extent around anyone before, not even him. Something had changed with the girl since yesterday. But what was it?_

_Before Naruto could ponder further, he was approached by the other Hyuuga whom he had the unfortunate luck of being acquainted with at the academy; Hyuuga Neji. The arrogant genius glared at him, before smirking smugly and beginning, "Congratulations for our fight yesterday, Namikaze-sama; if Iruka-sensei wasn't there to stop us at the right time, I am sure I would have been defeated. You truly are quite the talented shinobi, especially for someone an entire year my junior."_

_"Heh, so you finally admit it!" exclaimed Naruto with a grin, "Since I was able to beat you, that just shows that your destiny crap is nothing but nonsense."_

_The Hyuuga simply closed his eyes and shook his head before replying, "Not quite, Namikaze-sama. If anything, you're actions yesterday just proved my theory that everything is pre-determined."_

_"What do you mean; that doesn't even make any sense!"_

_"How are you, the Yondaime's son, in any position to oppose my beliefs? As the child of one of the most powerful kage who ever lived, you're an individual fated for greatness. The reason why you were able to defeat me, despite my reputation as a genius and my greater experience, is simply because you were born with more talent than me. That's all there is to it," explained Hyuuga Neji._

_"T-that's a lie!" exclaimed Naruto, "I'm not strong because I'm my father's son or I'm born to be great or anything! I'm strong because I am myself, Namikaze Naruto, and because I work hard. I write my own destiny."_

_Neji just shook his head again before replying, "So naïve; do you actually think that working hard can allow someone to escape their fate. Look at all the most powerful shinobi in history. Look at Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara; they were rivals and the two most powerful men of their generation. Not only that, but both were members of prestigious clans and gifted with legendary bloodlines. How about Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, who was also a member of an elite clan, although not as famous as the Uchiha or Senju. But he was the son of Sarutobi Sasuke, another legend, and he was the student of both the Shodai and the Nidaime Hokage. Was he not destined for greatness?"_

_"Just face it; all the legends in history were born to be legends, and all of the failures in history were born to be failures. The only exception I can think of is Jiraiya of the Sannin, but his fame is nothing compared to the mythic status given to born legends like the Shodai."_

_"You're wrong; none of that is true! Do you really think that those people became great because of just blood or upbringing alone? No! They worked hard and trained with determination, and all of their blood, sweat, and tears were what allowed them to reach the top. Not because of a stupid thing called destiny," retorted Naruto after interrupting the prodigy's speech._

_Neji shook his head again in disagreement before continuing, "Why do you keep trying to prove me wrong. Huh, Naruto? Why? Is it because…you are also struggling to defy your own fate? Has destiny spotted you a bad hand, and now you are determined to go against it with your every being?"_

_"What are you talking about?"_

_"I'm just saying; being born as who you are, you must have been living in the Fire's Shadow your entire life."_

_"The Fire's…Shadow? You mean the Hokage? My father…what does he have to do with this?"_

_"As the son of the Yondaime, a war hero who single-handedly won the Third World War and vanquished the Kyuubi no Yoko, you must have some pretty daunting footsteps to follow in as a ninja. You've been in his shadow since you were born, and now you're desperately trying to escape it. But you can't, because you are fated to be his son. You can never change that…"_

_"Y-you're wrong…I…I…that is…" stuttered Naruto._

_"That is the truth, no matter how unwilling you are to admit it. And I can see from you're reaction that my words have hit home. Just think about what I've told you for a little longer, and I'm sure you'll see things my way," said the Hyuuga smugly before walking off, leaving Naruto in his stupor._

* * *

><p>"…that was the last time I ever spoke to Hyuuga Neji," stated Naruto after he finished his tale. He stared at his jonin-sensei Kakashi, trying to gauge his reaction. The Copy-nin was still in a thinking position and his eyes had a far-off look to them.<p>

"So that's it; you decided to act like an incompetent dumbass for nearly three years because of that?" said Kakashi, finally speaking.

Naruto shook his head, "It wasn't just that. After I defeated Neji, I gained a kind of celebrity status on campus. Neji was the most talented kid in school after all, and for him to be defeated by a guy who had only been in the academy for a few months, well, that was a pretty big deal. People started to either worship the ground I stood on, or envy me for my talent. The jealous ones were quite the annoying bunch."

"But truth be told, I actually preferred the latter to the former. The fangirls and fanboys who treated me like I was a god were completely insincere about it. They didn't care about me or who I was; they weren't my friends. At the time, the only real friend I had was Kurama. People didn't even see me for myself; they only saw me as the Hokage's son. When I realized that, I decided that my heritage was the root of the problem, and Neji's words started to get to me. I didn't want to follow in my father's footsteps anymore, because I genuinely believed that I would never be able to measure up to him."

"So I gave up; I stopped trying and I stopped applying myself, at least overtly. It escalated to the point where, not only was I no longer putting effort into my school grades, but I was deliberately playing the part of the fool. I wore a mask and pretended to be stupider and less talented than I really was. I took up pranking as an outlet with Kurama in an effort to dissociate myself from my father. And I tried to be seen as the class clown, because to me, it was better than being seen as nothing but the Hokage's son. At the very least, being the village idiot was something I could attribute to my own self rather than my bloodline."

"Fortunately, thanks to my sister's efforts and my own self-reflection, I was able to realize how moronic I was being. But old habits die hard, and by then my reputation had already set in and acting any different would lead to suspicion from a lot of people. So I continued being the dead last, but I promised my sister that I would stop the act once we graduated. And so here I am," finished Naruto.

Kakashi nodded before replying, "I see; that's quite an interesting tale you have there, _otouto_. And it explains a lot. But tell me; do your parents know?"

"They do now," answered the blonde, "They found out the night of my graduation that I was hiding my talent, but I didn't give them my explanation until this morning."

"Were they surprised?" inquired the silver-haired jonin.

"Well, my mom was, and she even threatened to find Neji and give him a can of Uzumaki-brand whoop-ass, but Dad and I managed to convince her not to, thankfully. It wouldn't look too good if the Hokage's wife tried to beat up a thirteen-year old."

"And your dad?"

"My dad…well; I don't think he knew beforehand, but he didn't seem very shocked by my revelation. It's like he was almost expecting it," explained Naruto.

"That sounds like sensei; he always believed in you, Naruto. Even when it seemed like you were the dumbest tool in the shed. But I'm surprised that you couldn't think of the most obvious counter to Neji-san's argument. Especially since it was right in front of you…" said Kakashi cryptically, causing Naruto to become puzzled and curious.

"What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei?" inquired Naruto with interest.

"Your father was the orphaned son of two civilian shopkeepers living in a random, obscure village somewhere in the Land of Fire." spoke Kakashi, "And now he is the Fourth Hokage, the most powerful shinobi in the world and one of the most talented ever produced in Konoha. He is a living legend who has surpassed all of the previous Hokages before him. If anything disproves the notion that you have to be born in prestige to become great, well, it's definitely Minato-sensei."

"And I believe that you, Naruto, will one day surpass him…"

* * *

><p>Somewhere near Kusagakure no Sato, the Hidden Grass Village, was a bridge of medium size that spanned a deep ravine. Its design was that of a basic arch bridge, and it was called Tenchi Bridge. Two figures were standing at each end of the bridge, in direct opposition to one another.<p>

On one end was a man clothed in a majestic white cloak. The cloak covered the man completely and flowed as if it was made from a liquid piece of cloud. As the man walked forward, he seemed to hover just a few inches off the ground, as if he was floating.

In direct contrast to him, the other individual seemed to be a stout and fat figure draped completely in a rugged, black cloak that likewise covered the other man's appearance completely. The black hooded figure seemed to crawl on the ground in a mechanical fashion as he inched forward to meet the white-hooded figure.

When they finally met in the middle of Tenchi Bridge, the black hood was the first to speak, "I'm curious, stranger, about how you knew I even existed, let alone was able to find and contact me."

The voice was gruff and menacing, but it had a quality to it that clearly denoted it as being artificial in some way.

"Let's just say that I'm a very resourceful person, Scorpion-san…or should I say; _Akasuna no Sasori_," replied the white hood, revealing the identity of the black cloaked individual. The revelation was followed by a brief silence, which was broken when a mechanical, scorpion-like tail burst from the black hood's rear. The tail extended instantly and pierced the white hood's chest.

"How do you know my true identity," questioned the renowned puppet master menacingly while the tip of his tail was sticking out of the other individual's back, "Answer me!"

"Now, now, Sasori-chan," taunted the white hood, "Stabbing people with giant, scorpion-esque tails is no way to wring an answer out of them. Usually because it kills them…"

"I had a feeling that it wouldn't have quite the same effect on you, stranger."

"Oh, quite the genre-savvy puppeteer, aren't we. But you're right; I'm not, strictly speaking, normal," said the white cloaked man before removing his hood, revealing a handsome face with a head of spiky, golden hair. Upon noticing his eyes, the missing-nin from Suna gasped inside his Hiruko puppet. The mysterious man in the white cloak was bearing the legendary Rinnegan!

"Y-you look like the…the F-Fourth Hokage!" exclaimed Sasori, "And you're eyes…t-they're the…"

"Eyes of the _Rikudou Sennin_; yes, yes I know," replied the Yondaime-look alike with a hint of annoyance, "You don't have to rub in the fact that he had them first. But my eyes are definitely better than that bastard's!"

"Who the hell are you?"

"Oh, you mean me. Well, I have a lot of names and a lot of titles; 75% of them are mind-fucking-bogglingly badass, 15% are unbelievably sexy, and the other 10% are just plain awesome. But the one I like going by the most is…"

"…_Rikudou Hiraishin_!"

After declaring his most favored alias, Uzumaki Choetsu grabs the midsection of Hiruko's tail with his bare hands before squeezing it with enough force to smash it in half. Then he grabs the broken end of the tail's half that was still embedded in him and yanks it out before throwing it at a shocked Sasori.

Sasori, still in his Hiruko puppet, evades the ad-hoc projectile by jumping high up into the air before removing his cloak in a dramatic fashion, revealing the wooden, mechanical puppet beneath the black fabric. While still in midair, the Hiruko puppet opens its mouth and releases a salvo of poisonous _senbon_ needles.

Choetsu performs a series of gravity-defying somersaults and other acrobatic maneuvers on the bridge in order to evade the senbon before landing on his feet and pushing off against the ground. The velocity his downward push propels him at sends him shooting up with the appearance of having used the Body Flicker technique. An iota of an instant later, Choetsu reappears in front of Hiruko in midair with a flicker before striking the wooden puppet with an extremely powerful punch.

Hiruko is sent tumbling down to Earth at meteor-like velocities, before crashing into the ground and producing a rather large explosion and crater. The human puppet lies in the crater, damaged but not destroyed thanks to its chakra-reinforced armor. The entire area is covered in a cloud of dust from the explosion.

Meanwhile, Choetsu lands back on Earth near the end of the Tenchi Bridge where he had come from, waiting for Sasori's next move. He isn't kept waiting long when the bulky puppet charges out of the dust cloud with incredible speed unbecoming of its very un-streamlined form.

After it reaches the mid-way point of the bridge, Hiruko's limbs regain contact with the floor before it pushes forward again with immense force, flickering into a blur before reappearing behind the blonde Rinnegan-user.

Sasori releases another barrage of poison-laced senbon from his puppet's mouth, hoping to catch the Rikudou off-guard. Choetsu is ready however, and manages to react in time. The time traveler creates a wooden stick in his palms with _Mokuton_ before extending it into a long staff. Twirling the wooden staff wildly, Choetsu uses it to deflect the rapid-fire needles, not allowing even a single one to get through.

After all of the senbon had been deflected, Choetsu swings the stick, releasing a gust of wind. The _Fuuton_ enhanced air blows Hiruko straight into the sky. Jumping, Choetsu finds himself hovering a few meters above the suspended puppet. He twirls his Mokuton staff again before extending its length with chakra. The extended pole keeps lengthening until it collides with Hiruko, driving the puppet all the way back to the ground.

He doesn't stop there, however; after Sasori's outer shell had been driven into the ground, Choetsu continues lengthening the wooden staff. The staff pushes the wooden puppet into the forest before cutting a swathe of destruction through the woods as it continues to extend and extend seemingly without limit. Even when Hiruko crashes into a small mountain, it doesn't stop until the rocky obstacle is ploughed through.

Finally, after a five kilometer trail of destruction had been carved through the land, Choetsu stops. Hiruko lies battered and broken at the end of this trail with the tip of the wooden staff embedded in its shoulder area. It's a miracle that the puppet is even recognizable at all and not completely pulverized.

Using _Hiraishin_ for the first time in the battle, Choetsu teleports instantly to the downed marionette and grabs it with his right hand. From where the Rikudou's palm is touching the wooden battle doll, icicles begin to materialize and spread.

"Even after all you have shown against me, you still have a _Hyouton _technique to pull out of your hat. What kind of monster are you?" said the voice of Sasori from within his broken and quickly freezing puppet.

"That wasn't Ice Release," stated Choetsu with a smirk, "that was something I like to call Thermal Release, or _Netsuton_. It's a _Kekkei Tota_ that combines wind, water, and fire chakra together. Think of it as an expansion of Hyouton but with _Katon_ added to the mix."

Sasori is momentarily shocked by the revelation of a bloodline expansion in his opponent's arsenal before he quickly recovers. He fires Hiruko's only remaining weapon that is not broken or frozen; the torpedo-shaped canister taking the place of Hiruko's left arm.

The canister explodes in mid air, releasing shrapnel that further erupts into an endless volley of senbon from all directions. The senbon converge on Choetsu, ready to pierce the Rikudou's pale, alabaster skin and inject him with deadly poison…but before they could hit their mark, all of the senbon are instantly and abruptly halted in mid air by an invisible force.

"How rude of you, Sasori-chan; interrupting me while I was in the middle of an explanation," retorted Choetsu, dismissing the senbon attack as completely trivial, "As I was saying, Netsuton allows me to manipulate thermal energy. For example, I can reduce the temperature around your puppet until the point where it begins to freeze, like I have just done. Or I could do the opposite…"

Suddenly, the frozen outer shell of Hiruko begins warming up, becoming hotter and hotter until the icicles melt. It doesn't stop there though; the puppet continues heating up until Hiruko falls apart completely into a puddle of molten wood, from which emerges Sasori's true form. The redhead is wearing a black cloak, similar to the one he had draped around his puppet. He is completely untouched by the heat.

"Oh, by the way; if you're wondering why your puppet was melted and not you," explained Choetsu, "It's because I have complete control of the flow of heat and the concentration of thermal energy. I can determine what melts and what doesn't." (A.N. If this doesn't make any sense whatsoever scientifically, well, I apologize. But this is a Naruto fanfic, after all. If you came here expecting scientific accuracy, then you came to the wrong place.)

The red-haired puppeteer gaped at Choetsu in a speechless combination of awe, bewilderment, and panic.

"W-What…are you?" inquires Sasori after regaining his voice, "First, that Mokuton technique I saw earlier, then this Netsuton Kekkei Tota. How can you use so many advanced nature transformations at the same time?"

"The Rinnegan," answered the Rikudou Hiraishin, "allows an individual to master all six nature transformations: Wind, Water, Earth, Fire, Lightning, and Yin-Yang Release. That's common knowledge. What most folks don't know is that someone with enough mastery and experience with the Rinnegan can combine different elements together, as if they had a bloodline. I am one of those people. After using these eyes for so long, I have come to master every _Kekkei Genkai _and Kekkei Tota in existence, and even abilities beyond them."

"That's…insane. Completely and utterly insane…are you some kind of god?" questioned Sasori.

"Hmph; you have no idea how many times people have asked me that. And I get insulted every time. "

"How egotistical of you," snarked the Third Kazekage's killer, "Though, I guess you have a pretty big reason to be one. So…are you gonna finish me off yet? I'm kind of getting impatient here."

"Are you kidding me? Hah! As if I would off you so soon after going to all the trouble of setting up a meeting. No, no; I can't have you getting killed anytime in the near future. I still have business I want to discuss with you after all…"

"Business…what kind of business?" asked Sasori while narrowing his eyes in suspicion and curiosity.

"How does the word "alliance" sound?"

"An alliance; are you crazy? You just got finished kicking my ass after I tried to kill you…how do you expect us to have an alliance?" questioned Sasori.

"For the record, that was just a demonstration to show you what happens if you cross me," said Choetsu with a grin, "And to answer your question; yes, I expect us to have an alliance. Before I came here to meet you, I was just finished with becoming buddy-buddy with a guy whose privacy I invaded…and not in that way, you sicko. I'm sure we can come to an agreement."

"What would this partnership entail, exactly?"

"How about we discuss this someplace more scenic," declared Choetsu before snapping his fingers…and then the surroundings suddenly shifted. The wild forest environment they had been in before was replaced in an instant with a barren wasteland of endless grey. The sky was completely pitch black, and the Earth was positioned where the Sun would be at high noon on a fair summer's day…wait, what?

"W-Where ar-…"

"On the Moon."

"B-but ho-…"

"Space-Time Ninjutsu."

"W-Why di-…"

"'Cuz I like it here. Got a problem with that?"

"N-no; but how are yo-…"

"Breathing; it's a long story. Don't worry about it."

"But what about…"

"Yes, I know there's no sound in space. Do you think I give a fuck?"

"I guess not. But is there a reason…"

"Why I'm interrupting you; not really. Just a whim I guess."

"Oh, whatever; let's just…"

"Get this over with, right?"

"Please shut up."

"Never!"

Sasori sighed. This was going to be a long meeting.

* * *

><p>Team 7 finally parted ways after Naruto's discussion with Kakashi. Although he was supposed to head home with his sister, Naruto decided that he wanted to get some ramen at Ichiraku's, so he told Kurama to just meet him at the house later on. While walking to his favorite restaurant, Naruto noticed that Sasuke was heading in the same direction.<p>

"Hey, Sasuke-teme; wait up!" exclaimed Naruto cheerfully after catching up to the Uchiha heir. The raven-haired pre-teen turned around to find his blonde teammate waving at him with a friendly expression on his whiskered face.

"Hmph, what do you want, dobe?" asked Sasuke with a hint of irritation. Naruto frowned.

"Just wanted to say hi; geez, can't a guy greet his own teammate," retorted Naruto with a frustrated huff.

"Tch, sorry; I'm just a little annoyed right now. I'm glad we passed and all, but I'm still pissed at Kakashi for tying me up to that stump. Even if it was just fluke," explained Sasuke, "Speaking of flukes; d-did you really…were you really able to fight our sensei on his level during the exam."

Naruto's brow rose slightly at the offered question, "Uhh, yeah…I guess. But I think he was still holding back a lot when I fought him. I'm pretty sure I couldn't take on an elite _jonin_ like him if he was going all out."

"Still; to be able to take the bells from him even if they were just fakes…you're supposed to be the dead last. Who are you really, Naruto?" questioned Sasuke with a curious tone.

"Me? Why, I'm just the class clown and our resident village idiot; nothing more."

Unconvinced, Sasuke simply glared at Naruto in an effort to coerce him into telling the truth.

"Oh fine…I'll tell you the truth," said Naruto, "But it's a long story…"

Naruto proceeded to recount the same tale he gave Kakashi; he explained what happened with Neji during their early academy days, and he told Sasuke what happened afterwards and why he decided to hide his talent. The raven boy seemed interested enough in the story and nodded at all the right parts, but when he reached the part about Neji's speech to Naruto about living in his father's shadow, it seemed to spark something in Sasuke; a fact that didn't go unnoticed by Naruto.

Naruto's story ended right when the duo reached Ichiraku's. Naruto asked Sasuke to eat some ramen with him, but the Uchiha politely refused saying that he needed to get home for dinner at his clan's compound. Before Sasuke could leave, Naruto called out to him one last time.

"How do you do it, Sasuke?"

"Huh? Do what?"

"How did you…how were you able to deal with being Itachi's younger brother so well? You're like me, but at the same time, you're not like me at all. Your will didn't waver; you didn't lose hope, unlike myself. I was weak; just too weak. I couldn't deal with the stress of being in the shadow of a legend. But you could…you're strong, Sasuke; stronger than I am in a lot of ways."

Sasuke's eyes widened; Naruto's speech wasn't something he expected to ever hear directed at himself, let alone from the blonde. It caught him off-guard a bit. But he quickly regained his composure and gave Naruto his reply.

"Do you remember what I said when we introduced ourselves? About my dream for the future."

"Yeah; you said that you wanted…to surpass your brother Itachi. That's your dream," said Naruto before his eyes widened in realization, "That's it! That's how you…oh _Kami_; I've been going about my life completely wrong all this time. It was so obvious; I really am the village idiot for not being able to see what was right in front of me!"

"That's right, dobe," replied Sasuke, "At first I felt like you; terrified and afraid that I wouldn't be able to measure up to my brother's accomplishments. But I didn't let that get to me. First, I gave myself a dream, an ambition…a goal to meet. And I worked hard to reach that goal. That's what drove me all of those years in the academy until now. Apparently it wasn't enough though, considering that you're still stronger than me."

Naruto's expression of utter astonishment from earlier morphed into one of happiness as a genuine smile found itself on his face. Giving the raven-haired Uchiha a big grin, Naruto spoke again, "Thanks, Sasuke; at first I thought you were a prick, especially after you drop-kicked my sister, but now that I think about it, you aren't really that bad, teme."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, dobe."

"Your welcome," replied Naruto, "Hey! I've got an idea!"

"What is it? And it better not be something stupid."

"Don't worry, it's not. Let's make a bet…just between us two. Whoever surpasses their benchmark first wins a…a…a something that I don't know yet, but it's gonna be big! What do you say?"

Sasuke smirked before giving his blonde teammate a reply, "Sure, I'll take you up on that challenge, Naruto. But I'm warning you; I've been working my ass off to beat Itachi for a long time now…I'm not gonna let some upstart like you upstage me."

On that note, Sasuke turned around before giving Naruto a quick good bye and walking off, leaving the blonde alone in front of Ichiraku's Ramen.

Naruto grinned. "This should be interesting."

* * *

><p>After seeing Sasuke leave, Naruto was just about to walk into Ichiraku's to order some Miso ramen when a familiar voice called out to him. Turning around, Naruto found the source of the voice; his former classmate Hyuuga Hinata. The blonde-haired Namikaze beamed at her with a radiant smile, causing the timid girl to avert her eyes and twiddle her fingers.<p>

Deciding that ramen could wait, Naruto walked up to the Hyuuga heiress and gave her a warm greeting. He hadn't seen her since their last day at the academy after becoming genin. At the time, there was too much going on with team assignments and meetings with their new jonin instructors for them to chat.

"Hey there, Hinata-chan; what are you doing here all alone? Are you waiting for someone?" asked the Hokage's son in a friendly tone.

"I w-was waiting for y-you, act-actually. I wanted to g-give you…give you these," stuttered Hinata nervously as she held out two slips of papers. Naruto gasped upon seeing that they were coupons to Ichiraku's. Unable to contain his excitement, the ramen lover immediately pulled Hinata into a heartwarming embrace, causing the wallflower to blush madly and almost faint.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is great, Hinata-chan! But why are you giving them to me?" asked Naruto after pulling out of the hug, "Not that I'm complaining or anything."

"I w-w-wanted to…I wanted to tha-thank you…thank you for rescuing me the other day. And I know…I know that these aren't the b-best gifts to g-give you, but I needed to show you my gratitude. You saved my life, Naruto-kun."

"Aw, Hinata, you don't have to give me these just to thank me. There was no way I could have let a sweet girl like you get hurt by that asshole," said Naruto, causing Hinata to redden further, "But hey! If you insist, I'm definitely not one to turn down free ramen, hehehe."

"O-Of course, N-Naruto-kun. He-here you go," stammered Hinata while presenting the coupons to her crush with her outstretched hands while she bowed. Naruto blushed slightly and scratched the back of his head in a sheepish manner at the girl's submissive behavior. Taking the coupons, Naruto was just about to say good bye and walk off into the ramen stand when he noticed that there were two.

"Uh, Hinata-chan; there are two coupons."

"Y-Yes Naruto-kun, there are t-two; I t-thought that you would be with K-Kurama-san so I got two just in case."

"Oh, that's very thoughtful of you, Hinata-chan, but Kurama went home before me, so I don't have anyone to give the second coupon to. I could always save it, but…" began Naruto while rubbing his chin in thought, "Hey, you know what? Why don't you come eat at Ichiraku's with me! It'll be fun; just you and me spending some time together. "

Hinata looked shocked, "M-Me…you w-want m-me t-to e-eat w-with you. But why?"

"You're my friend, silly. Now let's go!" exclaimed Naruto enthusiastically before he grabbed onto Hinata's hand with his own and dragged her into his favorite eating establishment. The Byakugan-user was feeling faint from the skin contact, as well as the stares she was receiving as they entered hand in hand.

After reaching the counter with Hinata still in tow, Naruto quickly called out to Old Man Teuchi, grabbing his attention.

"Oh, if it isn't my number one customer; how may I help you, Naruto-kun?" asked Teuchi while holding a notepad and pencil in his hand.

"You take these, don't you," asked Naruto while holding out the two coupons that Hinata had given him. Teuchi inspected the two coupons, determining that they were valid before nodding in confirmation.

"That will be two Pork ramen specials on the house with the purchase of one each. I'm guessing that you and the lovely lady will be sharing," said Teuchi, causing Hinata to flush in embarrassment.

"Yup, and this is Hyuuga Hinata-chan by the way. She's my friend from school and she's a ninja like me," said Naruto cheerfully while introducing the girl to the ramen chef.

"Ah, a Hyuuga; it's a pleasure to meet you, Hinata-san. I'm Ichiraku Teuchi, but you can call me Old Man Teuchi if you want."

"It's v-very n-nice to meet you too, T-Teuchi-san."

"Oh, by the way, Old Man; where's Ayame-nee-chan?" interjected Naruto with a question. Ayame was Teuchi's daughter who helped work the ramen stand. She was also a very good friend and sister-like figure to Naruto.

"My daughter has a day off today, so it's just me working the stand. Well anyways, I better go and finish those orders of yours. Four Pork ramen specials coming right up!" announced the ramen chef before he went off into the kitchen to prepare their noodles.

While waiting for the ramen to finish, Naruto turned to his indigo-haired friend and decided to start a conversation, "So, Hinata-chan; can you believe that we're _genin _now! It feels like it was just yesterday that we were barely starting the academy."

"I agree, N-naruto-kun; t-time really flies."

"So what do you think about your team? You have Shino and that mutt Kiba right? Shino doesn't seem too bad, but he's really quiet, and Kiba is an idiot in my opinion, no offense."

"N-None taken, Naruto-kun; Kiba-kun c-can be quite b-b-boisterous at times, and he's not the sharpest tool in the shed."

"That's putting it lightly," said Naruto followed by a brief chuckle, "But I'm biased because he's always hitting on my sis and it pisses me off to no end. So I'm guessing that you guys passed your jonin instructor's exam?"

"Y-yes, Naruto-kun, we did. It…it wasn't…all that di-difficult," replied Hinata before she started to explain what happened during their sensei, Yuhi Kurenai's test for them. From the sound of it, Team 8's final trial to become full-fledged shinobi was no where near his own team's in terms of difficulty. Naruto was kind of jealous that Hinata's squad didn't have to go to all the trouble that they had to with Kakashi.

"Orders up!" announced Teuchi as he brought the pair two large bowls of ramen. After telling them that he would bring out the other two bowls after they had finished their current ones, the ramen chef left to attend to another customer, leaving the two to their own devices.

The bowl of noodles was filled with a golden brown broth of steaming liquid containing noodles, pork cutlets, _Naruto _fishcakes, and an assortment of vegetables. After smelling the delectable aroma of his favorite dish, Naruto gave a sigh in ecstasy, "Ahhh; I love the smell of ramen after a difficult exam; especially when I'm starving to death. _Itadakimasu_!"

Naruto began digging in, slurping the noodles with gusto and sucking up the ramen soup like a vacuum. So entrenched was he in his meal that it took him a while to notice that his companion hadn't touched her food. Puzzled, the blonde ramen lover turned to her and asked, "Hey, Hinata-chan; how come you aren't eating? Is there something wrong?"

Hinata looked ashamed, and averted her eyes before speaking, "U-Um, t-this…this may c-come as a shock to y-you, but…I've never had ramen before."

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!"

"I n-never r-really g-got a c-chance to; they don't se-serve ramen at the H-Hyuuga compound, and I d-don't g-go out to eat m-much," stuttered the timid girl while shirking into her jacket nervously. Naruto's expression of complete and utter bewilderment was starting to affect her self-esteem significantly.

"Oh, you poor, poor thing," muttered Naruto dramatically, "You have no idea what you're missing! Now I, Namikaze Naruto, am honor bound to correct this horrible injustice and aberration upon the Ramen gods! IT IS MY DUTY TO INTRODUCE YOU TO THE HEAVENLY WONDER THAT IS RAMEN!"

With a crazed look in his eye, Naruto abruptly grabbed the chopsticks sitting in front of Hinata's bowl, startling her immensely. After snapping the two chopsticks apart, the ramen obsessed ninja dips them into the bowl and grabs a few noodles before drawing them out of the broth. He takes the noodles and brings them up to Hinata's mouth before saying, "Open wide and say "ahh", Hinata-chan. I'm about to show you paradise!"

"U-um, I d-don't think this is ne-necessary. I'm perfectly c-capable of feeding myse-UMPH…!" began Hinata before being interrupted by the shoving of ramen noodles into her opened mouth, causing the girl to give a cute, muffled squeal.

"Nonsense, Hinata-chan; I make it my obligation to be responsible for every ramen virgin's first taste of Kami's gift to mankind. So…how was it?"

Hinata sucked in all of the remaining noodles hanging out of her mouth before swallowing them.

"This is…this is good."

Naruto smiled; another successful conversion. And now…the ramen fest begins.

* * *

><p>After over two dozen bowls of ramen later, Naruto finally collapsed into a food coma. He was…defeated. Next to him was Hinata, still going strong as she continued devouring bowl after bowl, sucking in the noodles and broth like an experienced prostitute giving oral service. The Hyuuga was an endless soup repository, with no limit to capacity in sight.<p>

While Naruto drifted into unconsciousness due to his ramen-induced coma, the only thoughts going through his head were "where does she put it all" and "I think I'm in love". It doesn't take long for the former champion of ramen consumption to succumb to the darkness of comatose slumber.

Meanwhile, Hinata finishes yet another bowl of soup, unaware of her crush's condition, before she politely asks, "May I have another one, Teuchi-san?"

From that day forward, no ramen stand in existence will ever be the same again; the world of noodles is changed forever.

* * *

><p>Hatake Kakashi opened the front door to his studio apartment before walking in and finding the living room entirely bathed in darkness. Just as he was about to turn on the lights, a voice interrupted him.<p>

"Welcome home, Kakashi-kun," said the voice; a familiar one. Startled, Kakashi flipped the switch immediately, illuminating the entire room and revealing his home's intruder to be…Namikaze Kushina.

"K-Kushina-san; what are you doing in my home? And how'd you get in?"

The red-haired mother simply raised her right arm, revealing a set of keys dangling from her fingertips, "You gave my husband keys to your apartment, remember? I just had to ask for them real nicely. Now, where was I…"

"…Oh yes; I heard from a little birdie that earlier today, you tried to stick your dirty fingers up my daughter's asshole. What do you have to say for yourself, Kakashi?"

Kakashi's eyes widened in fright, "T-that w-was…that was just a t-technique of mine; for training purposes! It wasn't meant to be s-serious or anything, hehe."

"Oh really," replied Kushina, "I think I'm interested now. Do you think I could learn this so-called technique?"

"Um, it's not that difficult, honestly," replied Kakashi nervously, unsure of how to take the situation.

"Well then I should practice it!" declared Kushina before taking out a newly-sharpened kunai, "Would you mind if I used you as my test dummy? For training purposes, you see."

Panicking, Kakashi immediately tried to make a break for it as he was scared shitless by his sensei's terrifying wife. He didn't get very far however, when a set of chakra chains appeared out of nowhere and wrapped around his body, holding him in place. Kakashi gave a loud, audible swear at this.

"Where do you think you're going, Kakashi-kun," said Kushina in a sugar-sweet voice before walking towards the chained jonin with her kunai still in hand, "You have a technique to help me learn."

Kakashi gulped as he watched helplessly while his captor inched closer and closer to him, "P-please, don't be too rough. I'm sensitive down there…"

The scarecrow's screams of pain and terror were heard throughout the entire neighborhood that night.

* * *

><p>"I told Minato-chan four or five chapters ago that I had a lot of better things to do than this, but I guess I was wrong," muttered Uzumaki Choetsu to himself while he sipped from a cup of cold Sake on the surface of the Moon. The blonde-haired time traveler was lying on his back with one hand resting underneath the back of his head and the other holding the Sake.<p>

The Rikudou Hiraishin had just sent his new "ally" back to Earth after concluding a long meeting with him discussing their plans for collaboration. Personally, Choetsu thought it went well; Sasori wasn't nearly as irritable as Nagato had been. He was also a pragmatist, and could recognize a great opportunity when he saw one.

It also helped that the incentives that Choetsu offered to Sasori in exchange for joining him had the master puppeteer salivating from his artificial mouth. It started off with protection from Suna hunter-nin, as the redhead was still an infamous missing-nin who was highly wanted in the Hidden Sand. Then it went from there to bigger and bigger things.

Of course, Sasori was expected to give thing in return. First and foremost was collaboration with Konoha, which would mainly involve the use of Sasori's extensive spy network to the benefit of the village. However, Sasori was also expected to come to Konoha's aid in times of need, and would occasionally also have to take on clandestine S-Rank missions for them that involved highly sensitive objectives; missions that Konoha-nin would not want to be caught participating in. Essentially, Sasori would become a ninja of the Leaf in all but name, for all intents and purposes.

Finally, in about a few weeks time, Sasori would have to take on an apprentice from the Leaf to train in the art of puppetry. This last condition was accepted with great reluctance only after Choetsu had shown Sasori all of the incredible rewards that he would receive in return for his services.

"Those modifications that you made to Sasori's puppet form," said a new voice from out of nowhere, interrupting Choetsu's musings, "Don't you think they're a bit overkill?"

Getting up from his back to an upright position, Choetsu turned to his side and found the source of the voice…his old companion, the Rikudou Sennin.

"Oh, it's just you, Sennin-teme," said Choetsu dismissively, "And to answer your question; yes, they are overkill. But I love overkill, especially of the extremely overcompensating variant. Not that I need to compensate for anything, mind you."

"Oh, I'm sure you don't," deadpanned the Sage, "What I want to know is: why? Is there a reason why you turned Sasori of the Red Sands from being merely a literal one-man army into an honest-to-god weapon of astronomical mass destruction?"

"Hmm; mostly 'cuz I felt like it," answered the blonde Rikudou, "Yep, that just about sums it up in a nutshell."

"Because you felt like it, huh. Isn't that's your excuse for everything ridiculous that you do."

"You don't say?"

"Like that one time you created an army of domesticated bijuu using _Banbutsu Sozo _so that you could win a pet show, or when you visited the God Realm in our home universe and transformed the goddess Amaterasu into a wolf, or that one time that you reversed the pull of gravity in over 52 different universes, or how 'bout when you…"

"Hey!" interjected Choetsu, cutting off the white-haired Rikudou, "That last one was not me and you know it! All of the other instances were completely spot on, though."

"Whatever; as I was saying…wait, where was I going with this again?"

"You were ranting about something that had to do Sasori-chan."

"Ah, yes; what exactly are you planning to do with the puppet master now that you've got him on your side after going completely over-the-top with his upgrades?"

"You mean besides the whole apprentice thing that I've already got planned; well, I haven't really thought about that, to be honest."

"But I thought you had all of this planned out?"

"Nope; you must be mistaking me for someone else, Sennin-teme," replied Choetsu, "I'm making up all this shit as I go."

"Why am I not surprise?"

"Because you know me so well; now leave me be! I'm trying to get a tan here."

"You're trying to tan…with your complexion…on the _Moon_!"

"Let's face it; you've seen me do a lot of stranger things than this."

"True; on my Choetsu weirdness scale from 1 to 10, this is probably just a 1, sadly. I should probably leave now before you start doing things that elicit higher ratings from the scale."

"Hey, before you go; is Eiyuu-chan back from his journey yet?" asked Choetsu as he went back to lying down.

"No; our third companion, the _Rikudou Eiyuu_, has yet to return," answered the original Rikudou.

"He's taking an awfully long time; maybe you should check up on him?"

"I'm sure he's fine; you're just worried about him because he's your-…"

"On second thought; yeah he's probably alright. Well, that's all; you're free to go now, Sennin-teme."

"Stop dismissing me like I'm your subordinate, damn it!" retorted the Sage, "Oh, and I almost forgot. Are you planning on converting any more villains to the side of "good"?"

"What do you mean by "planning"; like I said, this shit's all improvised. But if you must know, I most likely won't. I need to have _some_ good villains left."

"Well, even if you did convert all of the Akatsuki from our timeline, you would still have Danzo and Orochimaru and the like to deal with. But I see your point," said the Sage before vanishing in an instant, leaving his fellow Rinnegan-user alone on the Moon.

"Thank me; he's finally gone," muttered Choetsu in relief, "It's such a pain in the ass explaining everything to him."

* * *

><p>When Naruto finally returned to a state of consciousness, he was in his own bed, it was past midnight, and his stomach was aching. Naruto would later find out that after he had been outdone by Hinata in a ramen eating contest and fainted, the timid girl basically panicked when she realized his condition and went to get help from the nearest shinobi.<p>

The nameless chunin who she managed to find went off to get his father, who took him to the hospital to make sure he was fine. When every thing turned out to be alright with him, sans a slightly bloated stomach, Minato took him back home. Due to the food-induced coma he was in, Naruto didn't awaken at all during these events; not until he was finally back in his own bed.

Now here he was, holding his stomach in pain as the feeling of wanting to throw up welled up inside of him. Unable to take it any longer, Naruto rushed to the nearest bathroom and puked his guts out for a good half-hour. When he was finally done, Naruto returned to his bedroom in order to get some much needed rest. He had a long day ahead of him.

* * *

><p>The next day saw the beginning of a long list of D-Rank missions for the newly incepted Team 7 to undertake. The three genin and their jonin-sensei had to complete various tasks which included baby-sitting, dog-walking, shopping, and farming. It goes without saying that all of these tasks were boring, tedious, tiresome, and mind-numbing.<p>

But the absolute worse D-Rank that Team 7 had the unfortunate luck of experiencing, not only because of the general annoyance and frustration caused by this particular mission, but also due to it's frequent reoccurrence, was the "Tora" search-and-rescue missions given to them by the Daimyo's Wife in order to track down her pet cat Tora, who was constantly running away. The number of cat scratches now littering the bodies and faces of the three genin of Team 7 was practically immeasurable.

Naruto was sick and tired of it all. He was through with Tora, through with babysitting, through with shopping and painting and farming. He was through with all D-Rank missions, period! The blonde-haired Namikaze wanted something more. He wanted a body-guard mission, or espionage, or even an assassination job. Anything; as long as it was more exciting than all of the random, odd jobs that his father was assigning them.

That is why, when Team 7 entered the Hokage's office to report the successful completion of yet another Tora search mission, Naruto stood there in front of his father, waiting in nervous anticipation with beads of sweat running down his face, anxious to see if he would finally get his big break.

"Hmm, let's see. For your squad, Kakashi, I have," began Minato while reading through a list that he was holding in his hands, "babysitting an elder's grandson, shopping in a neighboring village, and helping with some potato diggin-…"

"No, no, no, no, no! I've had it! I've just about had it with all of these crappy D-Rank missions!" exclaimed a frustrated Namikaze Naruto, cutting his father off in the middle of a sentence, "Give us something a little more exciting for once! We need a better mission!"

Naruto's sudden outburst shocked everyone in the room.

'_That was a little…excessive, dobe, but I think I agree._'

'_Damn it, Nii-chan; I know your frustrated with all these menial tasks, but do you have to act this way in front of daddy!_'

'_Sigh…I thought it was about time for one of them to blow…and it looks like my otouto was the first to give in_.'

"Naruto, you idiot; you're just a rookie genin!" exclaimed an enraged Umino Iruka, who was leaning forward with his hands on the desk next to the Hokage, "Everyone has to start off with simple missions and then work their way up! That's how the shinobi world works!"

"I…I understand, but still; lately it's been getting a little excessive. Do you have any idea how many times we had to chase that same damn cat over and over again?" said Naruto after he lowered his voice and calmed down a little.

"Yes, Naruto; I was the one who assigned you the missions in the first place," replied Minato, who was wearing his formal Hokage robes minus the hat, "It looks like I'm going to have to explain how the mission system works again…"

Minato then went into an abridged explanation of how the missions worked, including an overview of the S-Rank to D-Rank rating system, as well as the ranks of ninja in relation to what missions they typically undertook. He then went on discuss how the village was paid for each mission based on rank, and how simple D-Rank missions were perfect for newly graduated genin like Team 7.

After his explanation was over, Minato stared at his two children and their Uchiha teammate with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Well, if you three wanted it that much," began Minato with a sigh, "I guess I can give you a C-Rank mission."

Hearing the Yondaime's statement caused an expression of elated surprise to appear on all of their faces.

Seeing their looks of excitement, Minato continued, "It's a simple body-guard mission. You'll be protecting a certain individual."

"Who! Who is it?" asked Kurama anxiously, "Is it a Daimyo! Or is it some sort of princess!"

"Calm down, Kurama, I'll introduce him momentarily," replied the Hokage before shouting at the door behind them, "Hey! Will you come in here?"

Suddenly, the smell of old Sake and ocean waves assaulted the room, as an old man in a fishermen's outfit walked into the office.

"What's this? A bunch of super brats?" slurred the drunken client, "Tch; whatever. I'm the super bridge builder, Tazuna! And I expect super protection from you until I get back to my country and complete the bridge!"

TBC

A.N. Fourteen chapters and nearly 100,000 words, and I only just finished the bell test. Man, I seriously need to pick up the pace or else I'll be writing this long after the actual manga ends, hehe. But I hope you enjoyed this chapter nonetheless, and now I'm off to writing the much awaited Land of Waves arc! I have big plans for Wave, cuz unlike the Rikudou Hiraishin, I don't just make up shit as I go. At least I don't think so.

Anyways, just wanted to let you know that the scene where Choetsu was constantly interuptting Sasori was based on a similar scene from _Kami no Shinobi_, by Rael Orion, which I said in the prologue was my inspiration for writing this fic. Remember that, guys? Kami no Shinobi is a really great fic, and you should all check it out, even though it never made it past the fourth chapter.

Before anyone wonders, the reason why Neji is still the destiny-obsessed asshole he was before Naruto beat him in canon even though Hinata's kidnapping doesn't happen until the year of her graduation, well, that will be explained in future chapters. So don't even worry about it.

Also, the fact that Hinata outdid Naruto in a ramen eating contest is not completely baseless and fanmade; Hinata actually won a ramen eating contest in the Shippuden anime; episode 85 I believe, but I may be wrong. I just couldn't resist adding a reference to that in here when I was having Naruto introduce ramen to Hinata.

And finally; I'm sure many of you probably think that Choetsu is extremely overpowered now. So far, he has Rinnegan powers, Mangekyo powers, Space-Time Ninjutsu, Sage Mode, the Banbutsu techniques, and now he can even use any Kekkei Genkai or Kekkei Tota! But just remember, folks, he's supposed to be a peer of the Rikudou Sennin himself. You should be more worried if he wasn't overpowered. Not only that, but the true form of all of the True Rikudou is that of a transcendent, celestial being; a la Q from Star Trek, Mr. Mxyzptlk from DC, or the Beyonder from Marvel (before he was retconned to be weaker, that is). There's a reason why Choetsu isn't the main character, after all. It would be too boring if he was.

And now, for more Original Character Profiles!

Naruto Namikaze

Birthdate: October 10

Gender: Male

Age: 12

Nature Type: Wind Release

Jutsu/ Techniques: Wind Release: Stream, Wind Release: Vacuum Encampment Wall, Wind Release: Gale Palm, Body Flicker Technique, Transformation Technique, Body Replacement Technique, Clone Technique, Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique, Rasengan

Occupation: Shinobi

Ninja Rank: Genin

Academy Entrance Age: 10

Academy Graduation Age: 12

Family: Minato Namikaze (Father), Kushina Namikaze (Mother), Kurama Namikaze (Sister)

Note: I know Naruto isn't an OC, but my version of him is just so different from canon that I had to include a profile for him.


	16. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: Theoretically, if I said I owned Naruto, I would be right...why? you ask. BECAUSE I SAID SO, DAMN IT! But I'll be a nice fanfic writer and say that Naruto is not mine and is owned solely by some guy named Masashi Kishimoto. There, you happy, now?

Author's Note: Holy crap! I just passed the 100,000 mark! This is my first time ever! And now...I'm over it. On with the story!

Chapter 15: My Apologies, but...I Will Kill You

Uzumaki Nagato stared at the blue-haired beauty in his arms with a look of wondrous lust and unfettered love as the S-Rank angel returned his gaze with equal fervor. The Ame couple was entwined together as if a red thread of fate had wound itself tightly around them, binding their hearts, minds, and souls to each other in a perpetual exchange of frenzied heat.

Unable to withstand the surge of emotion erupting inside of him, Nagato wrapped his arms tighter around Konan's waist before going in for the kill. He brought his pale lips to hers, inching forward slowly in anticipation of that breathless contact, getting closer and closer and closer still, until finally…

"Oh, Nagato-chan!" exclaimed a familiar voice from out of nowhere, interrupting the two lovers at the worst possible moment, "I'm back! And I brought my new friend with me!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

><p>"<em>I'm the super bridge builder, Tazuna! And I expect super protection from you until I get back to my country and complete the bridge<em>!"

Naruto stared at the front entrance of his home town in awe. Before him were two massive wooden gates, Konoha's doorway to the outer world. They were opened wide for anyone to come in, provided that they got past the guards first, of course. The blonde-haired Namikaze was filled to the brim with jittery anticipation as he had never ventured outside the safety of the village before in his life.

He looked at his redheaded sister next to him and found that she too was eying the main gate with innocent wonder painted on her whiskered face, an obvious indicator that she probably felt the same way he did about being able to travel past the outer walls.

Of course, their sensei's laidback expression showcased the fact that he had probably done this a million times before in his long career as a shinobi, and Sasuke's stoicism was just a reflection of his personality. But Naruto could tell that underneath that mask of cool indifference, the Uchiha boy was probably just as excited as himself.

"Let's go, guys!" exclaimed Kurama while pumping her fists into the air; unable to temper her excitement any longer.

"Alright, alright; just calm down already," said Kakashi lazily, "I know this is your first time out of the village, but you'll get used to it quickly. Pretty soon it'll become completely mundane."

"That's why I have to express myself now!" retorted the red-haired vixen as she excitedly wandered off in front of her team, with her equally enthusiastic brother right behind her. Sasuke gave an audible huff of annoyance at their antics, but couldn't help but hide a smirk on his face.

"Hey, am I really going to be safe with these brats?" complained Tazuna while addressing the sole other adult present, "Especially girlie with the red hair; doesn't seem like she could do much protecting."

Kurama's temper flared when she heard the comment, prompting her to immediately turn around and give the bridge builder a piece of her mind, "Hey! You chauvinistic drunkard; don't underestimate me just cause I'm a girl!"

"She's telling the truth, Tazuna-san. Kurama here was the top-ranked student in her class, and she's the Hokage's daughter. In fact, all of my student's are highly talented for their age," explained Kakashi, trying to reassure the client of his safety, "And if anything, I am a _jonin_, so don't worry."

"Well then, I'm super sorry for judging, but they honestly don't look like much."

'_Damn this geezer_,' mused Naruto inwardly, '_He's the worst possible client we could have. If he doesn't stop he's gonna set Kurama's temper off, and mine as well. And that's never good_.'

The first leg of their journey continued just like that; with Tazuna provoking the genin to extreme ends, Kurama nearly blowing up in an effort to restrain her own temper, and Naruto constantly trying to diffuse the situations. Sometimes Kakashi had to fulfill Naruto's role, when the blonde-who-was-also-related-to-the-infamous-Bloody Red Habanero was too irate to act as mediator. Sasuke remained quiet for most of the trip, but occasionally he would smile or even chuckle softly at some of the situations that degenerated between his fellow teammates and their client.

Little did Team 7 know that they were being watched…

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei; do they have ninjas in the Land of Wave too?" inquired Kurama curiously.

"No, they don't," was Kakashi's answer, "But in other nations; although the cultures and customs may be different, hidden villages and therefore shinobi do exist."

The veteran ninja than went on into an explanation of the hidden villages and the Five Great Shinobi Nations, as well as their leaders; the Five Kage. Frankly, Naruto found this topic pretty bland, but his twin seemed pretty interested in it.

"Wow, daddy is so awesome! He has to be the best kage in the world!" declared Kurama enthusiastically.

"I'm glad that you think so highly of Minato-sensei," said Kakashi with an eye smile, "But don't worry; we shouldn't have any encounters with enemy shinobi in this mission. It's only a C-Rank after all, right, Tazuna-san?"

"Of course! Hahahahahaha!" laughed Tazuna nervously as a few beads of sweat started running down his face; a fact that didn't go unnoticed by any of the ninjas present.

As the entourage continued forward to Wave, they passed by a lone puddle out in the middle of the trail they were walking on. It seemed completely out of place in the dry, sunny environment that surrounded it; like the anachronism in a story. Naruto stared at the puddle suspiciously before moving on.

When Tazuna and all of the Leaf nin had passed by the puddle and were looking forward, a dark figure emerged from the shallow pond. It was a man draped in a frightening, black cloak, with a bulky breathing apparatus covering the lower half of his face like Kakashi's mask covered the lower half of his, and a Hidden Mist headband over his forehead. He had long, brownish-black, wild hair that gave him the aura of a demon, and his right arm was covered in an infernal gauntlet.

The cloaked shinobi whose real name was Gozu, one of Kirigakure's so-called "Demon Brothers", narrowed his eyes at the Leaf nin, having already picked out his target. Gozu heaved his gauntlet covered arm into the air, which had the affect of launching his younger brother Meizu from the water puddle they had both been hiding in.

With both brothers out in the open and ready to strike with perfect harmony, one shocked Hatake Kakashi found himself immediately bound by serrated, metal chains coming from each brother's gauntlet. The Copy-nin's students and Tazuna all looked back at the chained jonin, but they were already too late.

"One down," said Meizu, the younger, before the two Demon Brothers pulled on their respective chains, causing the body of the Hatake to become vivisected in a nightmarish eruption of blood and gore.

"Holy shit, _aniki_!" screamed Naruto in panic at having just seen his surrogate older brother figure die a horrible death right in front of him.

The two former Mist _chunin _lost no momentum, choosing to capitalize on their targets' shock and distress to maneuver themselves into attack position behind their next victim: Naruto himself.

"Two down…"

* * *

><p>Truth be told, Naruto had known all along that they were being followed. But he assumed that Kakashi knew as well, and when the silver-haired jonin didn't say anything, Naruto decided to mimic his silence. Apparently he was wrong.<p>

So when the two Mist chunin appeared and sliced up Kakashi into little bits and pieces, Naruto was beyond shocked. If he was anyone but himself, or if he was the person that many assumed him to be, the blonde would have probably frozen up on the spot and become a sitting duck for their two attackers.

But Naruto was already experienced with real battle; he fought a jonin for Kami's sake. He wasn't going to let two chunin nobodies take him down!

So just when the serrated chains were about to bind him and eviscerate his body, Naruto used _Shunshin no Jutsu _to vanish from sight with a flicker of light, shocking the Demon Brothers long enough for his Uchiha teammate to counterattack. The raven-haired boy jumped above the two missing-nin before throwing a shuriken at the chains still suspended in the air.

His projectile hit its mark with supreme accuracy, pinning the metal chains to a nearby tree. Sasuke followed that up with a thrown kunai, which became embedded in the shuriken itself, holding it in place so the two brothers could not escape.

"We're stuck!" yelled one of the Demon Brothers in panic as they tried to pull their chains out from the tree. Before they could do anything, Sasuke landed with his feet resting on their gauntlets, accompanied by a swish of displaced air. The prodigy smirked before grabbing on to their gauntlets and kicking backwards, nailing them both in the face with the soles of his feet.

After recovering, the Demon Brothers finally triggered the mechanism in their gauntlets that would release the chains, freeing Gozu and Meizu. The two rogue chunin charged at the bridge builder, their true mark, with incredible speed that no normal human could react too. But for Namikaze Naruto…they just weren't fast enough.

The blonde-haired genin reappeared in front of their path with a yellow flash, ready to intercept them. Briefly, Naruto looked back at his sister, who was standing guard next to their client. They shared a moment of non-verbal communication only twins like them could possibly have, before Kurama grabbed Tazuna and pushed him out of the immediate danger zone.

Without having to worry about the bride builder being caught in his next justu, Naruto was free to retaliate. He started performing hand seals at insane speeds and successfully managed to complete the entire sequence before Gozu and Meizu could reach him, even running as fast as they were.

"_Fuuton: Shinkujinheki _(Wind Release: Vacuum Encampment Wall)!" exclaimed Naruto before a mass of compressed air began rotating rapidly around him, forming a devastating whirlwind that impacted against the charging Demon Brothers and stopped them in their tracks.

It didn't stop there; with their momentum gone, the former Hidden Mist chunin were unable to stop the revolving vacuum wall from spinning them around wildly before launching them straight into the sky in opposite directions.

While this was happening, Kurama had deposited Tazuna safely on his butt after extracting him from the immediate AoE of Naruto's wind jutsu. Turning around, the red-haired vixen quickly formed two _kage bunshins_ just as the two brothers had been launched into the air. Grabbing onto her clones' arms, Kurama transformed them into two _Fuma _shuriken before throwing them both; one at each brother.

When the two giant projectiles passed behind their targets in midair, they transform back into Kurama clones. The clones cocked their fists back before sending both rogue chunin flying towards each other with powerful, chakra-enhanced punches to their exposed backs. This was done in such a way that they would eventually collide with each other in the middle, right above where Naruto was.

Now entering the final phase of their improvised attack plan, Kurama jumped into the air with great altitude before ending up a good twenty feet above where the Demon Brothers would collide. Looking down, she could see her brother Naruto staring straight up at her. He gave her the signal.

"_Wind Release: Stream/Fire Release: Stream_!" exclaimed Naruto/Kurama respectively in unison as they unleashed torrents of either wind or fire chakra from their mouths. The two streams converged on one spot; right where the two missing-nin finally collided with each other. The pressurized air from Naruto's _Fuuton _ignited and magnified the heat, power, and intensity of Kurama's _Katon_, resulting in a hellish, blazing firestorm that engulfed the forms of both hapless brothers.

Sasuke and Tazuna watched in awe as the burning pillar billowed upwards into the sky as a funnel cloud of heat and flames. Tazuna had never seen anything like it in his life, while Sasuke, despite being a member of the pyromaniac Uchiha clan, was just as impressed by the siblings' collaboration technique.

'_I can expect this from Kurama, but from Naruto, it's a little shocking; is this the power that you've been hiding, dobe_…'

The two Namikaze eventually halted their attacks, allowing the raging inferno to die down and eventually fade away. When the area was finally devoid of flames, Naruto and Kurama found that, to their immediate consternation, their enemies were gone. There weren't even any charred bodies left behind.

The Hokage's children started to panic before being interrupted by a familiar voice from behind, "Perfect teamwork, you two. And excellent reaction time, Sasuke. I knew I was right to let my students handle things."

Turning towards the sound of the voice, Naruto, Kurama, and Sasuke found their jonin instructor, Hatake Kakashi, completely alive and in one piece with both missing-nin caught in a headlock under the Copy-nin's two arms. They were slightly singed and smoking, but other than that and the fact that they were completely out cold, Gozu and Meizu seemed to be fine.

"My only real complaint is that next time," continued the Copy-nin, "please allow me to interrogate our attackers before you cook them alive. Rescuing these two from that inferno of yours was a real pain in the ass."

"A-aniki!" exclaimed Naruto in a combination of relief and disbelief.

"Kakashi-nii-san! You're alive!" cried out Kurama energetically.

"Hn, what a show off," muttered Sasuke under his breath.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, the duo of <em>nuke-nin<em> were both tied to a tree by Kakashi, leaving them stuck in one place for hunter-nin to capture. The Cyclops had bound them tightly with rope in an expert manner, leaving no plausible chance of escape for the two wanted fugitives.

"Tazuna-san," began Kakashi while looking back at the man he was addressing, "We need to talk."

"About what?" asked the old bridge builder in a nervous tone.

"These two," continued the silver-haired jonin, "are both former chunin of Kirigakure, the Hidden Mist. They are somewhat infamously known as the two "Demon Brothers", and they are described as being ruthless and relentless fighters."

"How did you know we would attack," interjected one of the brothers.

"It was very simple actually; the puddle that you two hid in before attacking us stuck out like a sore thumb in the middle of this dry, sunny weather we've been having in the area for quite awhile. But I can't take all the credit. I'm not the only one who noticed, after all," explained Kakashi before looking back at Naruto and giving him an appraising wink. The blonde genin had the courtesy to look sheepish.

"If that's the case, than why'd you let the brats fight?" questioned Tazuna curiously.

"Well, if I really wanted to; I could've eliminated these two instantly with all of you being none the wiser," stated Kakashi, causing Gozu and Meizu to glare at their captor, "But I needed to confirm something for myself. Specifically, I needed to know who they were after."

"W-what do you mean?"

"What I mean is that I wanted to see if these two ninja were after me or one of my team…or if they were after you, Tazuna-san. If the latter's the case, then we have a big problem on our hand. We weren't informed that there would be any shinobi encounters on this mission. We were only hired to protect you from thieves or gangs."

"This was supposed to be a simple bodyguard job until you completed the bridge. But now, with the recent developments, it has become at least a B-Rank mission," continued Kakashi, causing their client to eye the ground in a gravely manner, "I'm sure you have a good reason, but you must know that being deceptive about the difficulty of a mission is extremely detrimental; not only to us, but to yourselves. My team cannot handle this kind of danger at the moment. It would be best for us to pull out and abort the missio-…"

"No! We're continuing the mission!" yelled Naruto, interrupting his teacher abruptly. Everyone present was completely astonished.

"W-what was that, Naruto?" asked Kakashi, bewildered.

"Sensei; please don't quit the mission just for our sakes. You said it yourself; we're some of the most talented genin that you've ever encountered. We can handle this! We've already done a good job so far!"

Kakashi shook his head, "This is different; just because you could take on the Demon Brothers, two chunin, doesn't mean that you guys can handle anything and everything that comes our way on a mission like this. What if whoever's after Tazuna-san decides to send jonin after us, or even worse, multiple jonin."

"Well, it's a good thing that I've defeated a jonin before!" declared Naruto with the utmost of confidence. After saying this, the blonde-haired boy gazed back at his jonin-sensei with an unwavering look, as if daring the masked man to deny his claim.

Sasuke looked at him like he wanted very badly to say the word "bullshit", but something stopped him. Maybe it was the incredibly self-assured look plastered on Naruto's whiskered face which left absolutely no room for doubt, or maybe it was because Sasuke had witnessed Naruto's hidden talent first hand multiple times.

There was a pregnant pause before Kakashi replied, "Are you sure, Naruto? You do realize what you're just about to get yourself into?"

"Of course Kakashi-sensei; just trust me on this. I'm not one to back down from anything! Not anymore…"

"I guess you're sure then," said Kakashi before turning to the other two members of his team, "What about you guys; does anybody have any qualms with continuing through with the mission?"

All of the remaining members of Team 7 shook their heads.

"Well, that settles it. Operation "Protect the Bridge Builder" is still underway," announced the jonin instructor, prompting Naruto, Kurama, and Tazuna to give loud cheers of excitement.

While Team 7 continued to rejoice, the old client approached the team leader from behind.

"Hey," said Tazuna, addressing Kakashi directly, "I need to talk to you…"

* * *

><p>"YOU WHAT!" shrieked an enraged Namikaze Kushina as her husband cowered in fear in front of her. She was dressed in a light pink apron with a skillet in her hand; due to the fact that she had been in the middle of cooking a meal when her husband told her the news.<p>

"R-Relax, Kushina. You should know of all people that Naruto and Kurama can take care of themselves," said Minato nervously while waving his hands in front of his face in a defensive manner.

"I know that! But still; a C-Rank mission, isn't that too much for fresh-out-of-the-academy genin like them? What were you thinking?"

"I believe that our children can handle themselves," replied Minato firmly, dauntless in the face of his wife's well-meaning vehemence, "Kurama was the top of her class, and you know as well as I do that Naruto has been hiding immense power and talent all along. In fact, all three members of Team 7 are exceptionally skilled. Plus, with Kakashi leading them, I'm sure nothing can go wrong."

Kushina gave a huff in frustration while closing her eyes and crossing her arms. Minato could tell that the crimson-haired woman was on the verge of either acquiescing or having another outburst. He hoped it was the former.

"Sigh, fine. But if something, anything at all, goes wrong, and my babies are hurt…you're going to wish that your soul had been devoured by the Shinigami all those years ago. Do I make myself clear, my darling husband?"

"Yes, dear," answered the Yondaime obediently while giving a sigh of relief, glad that his lover's wrath has been averted.

* * *

><p>After the encounter with the two Demon Brothers and their squad's unanimous decision to continue on with the mission, Tazuna explained to Team 7 the reasons for his deception about the mission rank. He told them about how Gatou, a wealthy shipping magnate, was trying to assassinate Tazuna to prevent his bridge from being completed, since the bridge would end Gatou's unchallenged hegemony over the Land of Waves.<p>

In order to prevent this from happening, Tazuna travelled to Konoha to enlist the protection of Leaf-nin, but because of the rampant poverty and spirit-breaking financial and economic problems present in Wave, the old bridge builder could only afford to pay for a C-Rank mission. This was where they came in…

For accepting to continue with the mission, it would be Team 7's job to protect Tazuna, his men, and the bridge they were constructing for the duration of their stay in the impoverished country.

After the explanation was over, the five-man entourage continued onwards before finding a boat that would covertly sneak them into Wave country while the mist surrounding their route acted as camouflage, hiding them from the eyes and ears of the Gatou Company.

Personally, Kurama was brimming with excitement. It was her first C-Rank mission outside of the village, and it was already so exhilarating. Of course, Kurama was naturally worried about any danger that would befall her team and their client during the course of the mission, but she believed in herself and in the abilities of both her brothers. And she guessed Sasuke wasn't too bad; skill-wise, that is.

Personality wise; Kurama considered him a total prick. Ever since Team 7 had passed Kakashi's bell test, Sasuke had started to gradually warm up to her blonde brother; in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it manner, yes, but it was happening. To her though, the Uchiha had been unfailingly cold and rude, treating her like she was his nemesis or something. Who knows; maybe she was.

But she could no longer stand it, so now she just ignored him, brushing him off whenever he gave her cold looks or unnerving glares. In response, he ignored her too. Naruto was the only genin on their squad who somewhat got along with all of its members. In a way, her twin was the glue that held them together.

Kurama's thoughts were interrupted by the sight of the massive bridge that Tazuna and his people had been constructing. It was humoungous, impressive, and woefully incomplete. Both Namikaze had their eyes glued to it in wonder, and even Sasuke was raising a brow in awe.

"We'll be arriving there soon," said the rower operating the wooden boat they had been travelling in, "It looks like we've avoided detection so far, Tazuna, but just in case, I'll take the scenic route from now on. You know the route with all the vegetation. It will be harder for them to spot us there."

Tazuna nodded before the boat continued onwards into a tunnel under the bridge. After going through the tunnel, the boat exited into an area filled with beautiful trees growing out of the water. It was absolutely serene, a perfect testament to nature's brilliance.

After arriving at the shoddy, wooden dock, the boatman dropped them off before saying, "This is as far as I go, Tazuna. Farewell and good luck to you."

"Yeah. Super thanks."

* * *

><p>After leaving the dock, Team 7 and their client made their way along the path towards the bridge builder's home. As they walked the long trail, the Konoha-nin admired the scenic, natural aesthetics of the wild forest surrounding them, while keeping alert and on-guard at the same time. Who knows when another enemy could strike…?<p>

Naruto suddenly felt a blip on the periphery of his acute senses, as if there was another, unregistered presence lurking in the shadows, stalking their every movement. Alarmed, Naruto jerked towards the direction of the suspected presence and confirmed his own feelings with the sighting of movement and the flickering of shadows in the bushes.

"There!" exclaimed Naruto, startling his fellow team members, before he took out a shuriken and threw it at where he believed their mysterious assailant was hiding. There was no immediate response from within the bush, but Naruto was sure that he had hit something.

"H-hey, what's the big idea, Nii-chan!" Kurama cried out, shocked by her brother's abrupt actions, "Why'd you throw that shuriken at the bush? Did you see someone?"

"I…I thought I saw some movement in the trees," answered Naruto.

Kakashi narrowed his one visible eye in suspicion before walking forward to the bush in order to confirm if his blonde student was right or not. After brushing away some foliage, the Copy-nin found the victim of the Namikaze's thrown projectile…an innocent, white rabbit.

"You're such an idiot, dobe," muttered Sasuke after everyone present had witnessed what Naruto had thought was their "enemy", "It's just a damn rabbit! And you just wasted an entire shuriken on it."

"B-But…I could've sworn there was…" began Naruto before Kakashi tuned out the inevitable argument amongst rivals, allowing him to think clearly about the situation. There was just something terribly wrong about the entire scene. What was a snow rabbit with all-white fur doing out in the middle of spring?

Kakashi's eyes widened when he finally came to a conclusion. This rabbit wasn't actually a wild one at all; based on its fur, the rabbit was obviously being raised by ninja for the sole purpose of body replacement. There was no other explanation. Which meant that…

"Everyone, get down!" yelled Kakashi suddenly, shocking Team 7 once again before they sprung into action, ducking at just the right moment when a rapidly spinning projectile careened over their heads. The whirling projectile continued forward until it became embedded in a tall tree, revealing it to be a giant cleaving sword. Recognizing its rather infamous design, Kakashi's eyes widened before his fears were confirmed when a man flickered above the sword, landing with his feet directly on top of the massive weapon's longish hilt.

The man had pale skin and short, unruly, brownish-black hair. He wasn't wearing a shirt, and his bottom was clothed in striped, grayish pants, while his arms and legs were covered in thick, ninja-style body warmers. The man, who had the presence of a demon, turned his head slightly to look at them, revealing a lower face masked entirely with bandages, and a Kirigakure _hitae-ate_ wrapped around his forehead.

"Well, well; if it isn't the Hidden Mist's infamous missing-nin, Momochi Zabuza," greeted Kakashi mockingly. Filled with determination, Naruto prepared himself to face the rogue shinobi before Kakashi put a hand out in front of him, stopping the blonde in his tracks.

"Stay back, Naruto. That goes for the rest of you too," warned Kakashi, "This guy's on a whole other level."

"Against him, it'll be pretty rough…unless I use this," said Kakashi before grabbing the slanted headband covering his left eye.

* * *

><p>Unbeknownst to both jonin-level shinobi, another, more powerful, more <em>sinister<em> force was skulking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect time to strike. This man, this individual, was a shinobi, a hunter of shinobi to be exact, but he wasn't famous like Hatake Kakashi or Momochi Zabuza. No; mere fame didn't do the man justice…he was a myth, a fairy tail, a _legend_. He was a peer to the likes of Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, and he had the power to show for it.

"How very fortunate of me," said the legend, "To think, in my hunt for the infamous Demon of the Hidden Mist, I encounter an even greater bounty; _Sharingan no Kakashi_, the man who copied over 1000 jutsus. I wonder how many _Ryo_ I can fetch if I turn in both their heads on a silver platter."

And with that, the mysterious hunter of shinobi went back to watching; waiting to see how events would unfold between the Copy-nin and the Demon. Waiting for when he would finally strike.

* * *

><p>Standing in an empty clearing, right smack dab in the middle of a secluded forest, was Uchiha Itachi. The area was a part of his personal training ground. It was his sanctuary, where he could be alone doing what he loved doing the most; training.<p>

Here, the 17-year old was free of duty, of responsibility, of obligation. Here, he wasn't the ANBU Commander. He wasn't the Uchiha heir. He wasn't the peerless genius and unmatched prodigy that everyone had put on a pedestal and looked up to all the time. He was just Itachi. He was just himself.

To further emphasize this fact, Itachi choose to forego the ANBU uniform he wore constantly when he was on duty, and instead opted to wear nothing but a short-sleeve black T-shirt and grey sweatpants. Even shoes were absent. It was the only time he ever felt truly free, like his own person, and by _Kami_ he was gonna make the most of it.

The prodigy gripped the multiple kunai in his hand as he looked up at the red-and-white striped targets hanging from trees and branches above him. He thought for a moment, strategizing, before acting. With one, boundless hop, Itachi found himself over a dozen feet above the ground. Twisting his body in impossible ways, Itachi angled his skilled hands armed with kunai before releasing each projectile one by one with perfect timing and perfect accuracy.

The ten kunai that he had been holding all go flying off in different directions as he rolls and twists and curls and twirls in mid-air. His aim seems random, but every swing and every throw is perfectly planned out and calculated in his genius mind within milliseconds. Kunai that seemed to be angled completely off end up striking other kunai, altering their direction and velocity and causing them to hit other kunai, and another and another like a chain reaction until all ten are embedded in a target, right in the bull's eye for each and every one.

His task complete, Itachi plummets gracefully back to Earth before landing on his feet with elegance. The raven-haired teenager opens his eyes dramatically, revealing the crimson Sharingan that made his clan famous.

"Most impressive; I see that you've been practicing the thing I showed you," said a voice out of nowhere. Itachi's eyes widened, momentarily startled by the new presence he hadn't been able to sense despite his skill, before calming down once he registered the intruder's identity.

"You know me, Minato-sensei," replied the ANBU Commander, "I always make it a goal to excel at everything you teach me."

Turning around, the Uchiha heir found his sensei and Hokage hanging upside down from the branch of a nearby tree. He had a casual air to him, and wasn't wearing his cloak or flak vest. With a flicker, the village leader had vanished and reappeared right in front of his apprentice, courtesy of Shunshin no Jutsu.

"Of course; because Heavens forbid that Uchiha Itachi ever finds himself inadequate in anything pertaining to the shinobi arts," teased Minato good-naturedly.

"I could say the same of you, sensei," was the younger man's retort, "But please; enough of the small talk. I'm sure you came here for a reason."

"Straight to the point, as usual, Itachi. I have a mission for you," announced the blonde Hokage. The raven-haired prodigy's brow rose in response.

"Right now?...but I was so looking forward to having some time to myself with Sasuke away on his first mission outside the village," said Itachi with a sigh, "Well, if I must, then so be it. Please inform me of the nature of this assignment, Hokage-sama."

"It's S-Rank, although the term doesn't do it any justice. This is the kind of mission that I would only send a _Sannin_ or a commander like you to go on," explained Minato, "You should be gone for a few good weeks, at the least. You could also say it's an assassination mission, but there's a little twist to it."

"Who's the target?" asked the genius Uchiha with mild curiosity.

"Shimura Danzo…"

Itachi's eyes widened, "Danzo? Then that means…"

"Yes; Jiraiya-sensei's infamous spy network managed to pull through for us. Thanks to their efforts, we have a good idea of where Danzo is right now. According to my perverted, old master, Danzo and his ROOT agents are hiding somewhere in the Land of Rice Paddies."

"Isn't that where Orochimaru was last reported as being sighted by Jiraiya-sama?"

"Yes; it would make perfect sense considering our fears that Orochimaru and Danzo are both conspiring together. I just wish it wasn't true."

"Not to quote the Nara clan, but, this is troublesome," deadpanned the 17-year old, "So I take it that I'm suppose to kill him?"

"Not…quite. Remember how I said there's a twist to this assassination mission," said the Namikaze, to which his apprentice nodded, "Well, the twist is that _you_ won't be the one doing the assassinating."

"Well, then what am I sup-…" began Itachi before being cut off by his superior.

"I can't risk someone like you being in close proximity with Danzo while he still has Shisui's eye; not without a counter of your own. So I want you to take this," said Minato while holding out one of his special _Hiraishin _kunai, "and infiltrate his hideout, getting as close to him as you possibly can without getting brainwashed by _Kotoamatsukami_. Then, you're going to summon me with this, and I'll handle the rest."

"You're going to kill him?"

"You catch on quick, Itachi," replied Minato, "That bastard's gonna pay a million fold for daring to lay a finger on my daughter…"

* * *

><p>"I recognize you," began the sword-wielding missing-nin who had just attacked them, "You're the famous Copy Ninja, Kakashi of the Sharingan. My apologize…but the old man is mine."<p>

'_Sharingan; but that's my clan's bloodline. Why is this freak talking about the Sharingan, and what does Kakashi have to do with it_?'

Sasuke's questions were answered when his jonin-sensei finally lifted his forehead protector, revealing his hidden left eye to be the infamous dojutsu of the Uchiha clan. Kakashi had three _tomoe _surrounding his pupil, indicating mastery of the bloodline, and the area around his eye bared an angry, red scar.

Giving a gasp of shock, Sasuke reeled in bewilderment at the presence of his family's famous ability in the possession of his teacher.

"N-no way; only members of my clan can have those eyes. Is…is Kakashi an Uchiha?" muttered the raven-haired pre-teen under his breath.

Kakashi heard this and replied, "No, Sasuke; I'm not related to your clan in anyway. How I came to possess the Sharingan is…a long story for another day. But first, we have to concentrate on the here and now."

Sasuke nodded, realizing the logic in the scarecrow's words. He would worry about this issue later.

"Surround Tazuna-san and protect him. Do not enter the fight; that's how our teamwork will work here. I'll handle Zabuza."

"I'm deeply honored," said the swordsman, "I get to see the famous Sharingan in action. I heard that it has the ability to counter almost all _ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu_. But is it also true that it can copy enemy jutsus from just seeing them once?"

"Well, you'll just have to find out, won't you, Zabuza," taunted Kakashi before entering a fighting stance, "Fight me!"

"Are you sure that you want to do that? When I was still a member of the Hidden Mist, I kept a bingo book that included info on you," said the missing-nin, "I know all about you, Kakashi; the man who copied over a thousand techniques."

"O-one thousand techniques. That's…that's amazing," whispered Kurama in awe.

'_Damn, aniki; that's a lot of ninjutsu. You're incredible_!' praised Naruto in his thoughts.

"Enough of this; let's put an end to all the pointless talking," said Zabuza, "I'm going to kill you now, old man."

At this declaration of killing intent, the three genin members of Team 7 went into battle mode by forming a defensive formation around their client, preparing themselves for attacks from any angle. In front of them stood their sensei and team leader, ready to face the threat head on and waiting for the Demon of the Hidden Mist to make his first move.

Behind his protectors, the bridge builder Tazuna was panicking; deathly afraid for his own life. A life held in the very hands of these four individuals hired to guard him. Hopefully, they would be enough.

"It seems, Kakashi…that I'll have to get past you first!" exclaimed Zabuza before vanishing in a flicker of motion. Looking around frantically, the Leaf-nin tried to locate their out-of-sight enemy before spotting him, standing on the surface of a nearby lake.

"Over there!"

"He's on top of the water!"

The former member of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist had his left arm held straight up above his head in a seal, while his other arm was bent and held at chest level, likewise with his middle and index fingers in the form of a generic hand seal. A combination of water and chakra was swirling around his feet and legs.

'_It appears that he's releasing a huge amount of chakra. What could he be planning_?" asked Kakashi in his mind.

"_Ninpou: Kirigakure no Jutsu _(Ninja Art: Hiding in Mist Technique)," whispered Zabuza in a chilling tone before a dense fog settled over the entire area, reducing all visibility to zero. Team 7 watched helplessly as the rogue jonin's form faded into the mist.

"He's gone!"

"He'll come for me first," stated Kakashi, "When Momochi Zabuza was still a Kiri-nin, he was known for being a master in the art of silent killing. If he comes after you, you won't even notice until you're already dead. Even with my Sharingan, you all need to be careful."

Sasuke and Kurama were starting to feel anxious from Kakashi's words, but Naruto's determined face didn't waver one bit. Seeing her brother's confidence, Kurama steeled herself, willing her own fear away.

"There are eight choices; eight vital points for me to pick from," said a demonic, chilling voice in the mist, "Every one of these points lead to certain death. They are the liver, lungs, spine, kidneys, hear-…"

"Oh, _shut_ up," Naruto cried out abruptly in an annoyed tone before beginning a sequence of hand seals that ended with his hands clapped together, "_Fuuton: Reppusho _(Wind Release: Gale Palm)!"

"I told you to not interfere! W-What are you doing, Nar-…" began Kakashi before he was promptly shut up when the gust of wind released from Naruto's outstretched palm blew the mist away. The rest of Team 7 and Tazuna watched dumbstruck as Naruto's gale palm cleared the entire area of fog and revealed the location of their enemy, Zabuza, who was standing on land now and was less then a dozen feet from their position. If it weren't for his mask, they would have seen the gaping expression plastered on his face due to shock.

"H-how dare you interrupt my "eight points" speech! Who do you think you are, punk!" snapped Zabuza vehemently, enraged at Naruto's actions, "The last idiot who tried a stunt like that got my _Kubikiribocho _shoved up his ass…fucking _sideways_!"

"He must not have been all that fast then, to get himself tagged by your slowpoke ass, Mr. Eyebrow-less Freak!" retorted Naruto, further provoking the already furious man. The Momochi gripped the hilt of his massive sword tightly before preparing to charge forward, but before he could even move the blonde Namikaze had already flashed out of sight.

'_Was that…a shunshin? From a brat no less; maybe there's more to these upstarts then there first appeared to be_,' mused Zabuza.

Suddenly, a flicker of light materialized behind the missing-nin, revealing the thrusting form of Namikaze Naruto with his trusty chakra blade held in both hands, ready to stab the swordsman from behind. But Zabuza wasn't a jonin and a member of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist for nothing; as soon as Naruto had flashed behind him, Zabuza had already detected his abrupt presence and reacted.

Turning around in an instant, the wielder of Kubikiribocho swung his infamous blade in a horizontal slash, parrying Naruto's chakra blade. Naruto gave a gasp in mild shock.

'_I-impossible; he was able to react to my full speed! This guy's truly on a whole other level_.'

Fortunately, Naruto didn't panic; he was good at thinking on the spot. Immediately after finding his thrust repelled, Naruto began channeling energy into his weapon, lengthening the wind chakra blade and allowing it to cut through the Kubikiribocho like a hot knife through butter, before extending on towards the swordsman himself.

"Let's see you handle this!" taunted Naruto while Zabuza's eyes widened when the chakra blade pierced the missing-nin's stomach before exiting out his lower back. Releasing a garbled choke, Zabuza's body splattered and collapsed into a puddle of water, revealing the ruse.

The Hokage's son instinctively covered his eyes when chakra-imbued water sprayed his face, distracting him long enough for the real Zabuza to shunshin behind him with his giant cleaver held above his head; ready to slice the blonde boy in half with a powerful, downward slash. Simultaneously, Zabuza released a burst of his strongest, most sinister killing intent, causing Naruto to freeze up temporarily; leaving him a sitting duck.

The slash never came, however, thanks to the timely arrival of Kakashi, who flickered in at the last minute before blocking Zabuza's sword with a kunai. The Kiri nuke-nin tried to overpower his adversary, but the Konoha jonin was strong and managed to hold his own.

While still locked in this position with Zabuza, Kakashi turned his head towards Naruto, who had yet to recover from the intense KI from earlier, and gave him an eye smile before saying, "Don't worry, Naruto…I never let my comrades die."

This had the effect of reigniting Naruto's fiery willpower and freeing him from the temporary stupor that had plagued him, nearly resulting in his demise. Filled with new resolve, the genin released a burst of chakra before vanishing in a flicker of yellow light.

The blonde-haired Namikaze reappeared a few feet behind Zabuza before initiating a set of hand seals. Noticing this, Zabuza jumped back, disengaging himself from Kakashi, before attacking Naruto with a high kick that would have smashed him in the face if his jonin-sensei had not intervened once again.

This time, Kakashi formed his own set of hand seals before slamming both palms into the ground, causing a wall of stone to erupt out of the earth which blocked Zabuza's kick. Caught off guard by the defensive _Doton_, Zabuza was in no shape to react to Naruto's follow-up, which involved him jumping over the earth wall and throwing explosive-tag equipped kunai at the swordsman.

Three explosions later; the earth wall had been pulverized and the entire area was covered in smoke. Zabuza was no where to be found. Still in mid-air, Naruto slowly plummeted to the ground before a figure blurred behind him. The figure, revealed to be an unscratched Zabuza, swung at Naruto with his Kubikiribocho, slicing him in half…or so he thought.

Because once the giant cleaving sword cut through "Naruto", his body became enveloped in a cloud of smoke. The smoke cleared to reveal a Kakashi clone that immediately dispersed into water, shocking Zabuza.

'_B-but how?…when did the brat switch with a water clone of Kakashi? Was it…back then, behind the earth wall? That's it! While my line of sight was blocked by that goddamn piece of rubble, Kakashi created a water clone which transformed itself into a copy of the blonde brat. But if that's the case, then where's the real one_…'

Zabuza's question was answered immediately when Namikaze Naruto suddenly materialized in front of him with a yellow flash. Before he could react, the blonde inhaled a large intake of air before firing it as a stream of pressurized wind, blasting Zabuza and sending him plunging down to Earth. Fortunately for the swordsman, he ended up crash landing into the lake rather than hard ground, saving him from any serious injuries; although impacting against the water at such high speeds and from such great heights still caused significant damage.

Hardened by experience, Zabuza recovered quickly, not allowing the pain to get to him. Standing up, the former Mist jonin suspended himself on the water's surface with chakra, before looking on to where his target and enemies were located.

"Damn brat's too skilled for his own good," muttered Zabuza to himself before being forced to dodge an unexpected fist coming from his left side, courtesy of Kakasih's shunshin. Taking out a kunai, the silver-haired jonin followed up his own attack with a slash to Zabuza's face, which the other man blocked with his giant blade.

"It's over, Zabuza!" taunted Kakashi before he vanished with another body flicker and attacked Zabuza from behind. Zabuza evaded the kunai slash with a back flip that ended up positioning him behind the Sharingan-user. Finding the perfect opportunity to end the match, Zabuza took a swing at Kakashi's exposed backside, but the Konoha jonin jumped, causing him to miss.

The taijutsu match between jonin intensified, quickly becoming a chaotic, fast-paced dance of blurs and flickering motion as the two combatants spammed shunshin constantly in an attempt to outmaneuver their opponent. The rest of Team 7 watched in awe from the lake's shore. To their delight, their sensei seemed to have the upper hand.

While this was going on, Sasuke was boring holes in the back of Naruto's head thinking, '_How can the gap between us be so big. By the time the mist rolled in, I…I was already helpless; I just couldn't do anything! I couldn't even move; the pressure from all of the killing intent being thrown around was too much. Yet Naruto was still able to fight, and fight well at that. How does he do it_?'

Back with the jonin battle, Zabuza smirked to himself as their exchange of blows led them to a certain area of the lake, just as the swordsman had planned. After sidestepping a kunai thrust, Zabuza rapidly completed a seal sequence before slamming his hands onto the water's surface. The very spot they were standing on was where all of the chakra he had expelled into the water earlier when he was preparing his Hidden Mist technique had gathered.

"You're such a fool, Kakashi. _Suiton: Suiro no Jutsu _(Water Release: Water Prison Technique)!"

Kakashi's eyes widened when the water underneath his feet became alive, rushing upwards and surrounding him in an attempt to seal him within a liquid entrapment.

'_It can't be; this is…a water prison_!'

From the sidelines, Naruto watched as his sensei was nearly enveloped by a sphere of water, but before the jutsu could completely encase him, the blonde speedster intervened. Gathering a tremendous amount of chakra into his blade, Naruto burst forward with one of his fastest shunshins. The wind chakra emitted from his blade elongated as Naruto's body became a blur of yellow light leaving behind radiant afterimages.

In a fraction of second, a swathe of destruction cut through the center of the lake, parting it in two. Zabuza was only able to see a brief flash of yellow before his body was lacerated by stray wind blades and blown away by the resulting torrent of water, breaking the water prison technique he had been so close to finishing. His body only stopped tumbling across the water when he reached the edge of the lake.

After getting up, now with a series of glaring, scarlet cuts all over the front side of his body, Zabuza found himself at the mercy of one Hatake Kakashi, who was holding a kunai against his neck from behind. Across from them was Kakashi's blond genin student, standing on the shore due to his inability to water walk. With his hands gripping the Konoha Chakra Blade, he was ready to support his sensei if needed.

"Good job, Naruto, and thanks for saving me from that water prison. You have my gratitude," said Kakashi, "And as for you, Zabuza; I'm gonna give you a choice. Surrender now, and I'll let you live, or…well, you know the other option."

'_Shit; this turned out to be worse than I expected_,' mused Zabuza in his mind, '_I knew Kakashi by himself could give me a run for my money if I wasn't careful, but I didn't expect a genin to be so good. And even though I could probably kick this brat's ass if it was one-on-on, having to fight the Copy-nin at the same time was too much for me_.'

Faced with a critical decision, Momochi Zabuza decides to take a third option, "HEY, HAKU! Lend me a hand why don't you!"

Startled by the missing-nin's exclamation, Kakashi prepares to slit Zabuza's throat before the situation can escalate, but is interrupted by a hail of senbon needles aimed for him and his student. While Kakashi is able to dodge the senbon, Naruto is hit directly and turned into a pincushion before popping into smoke and leaving behind a wooden log.

After distancing himself from the swordsman, Kakashi looked towards the direction where the senbon had been thrown from. Standing atop the branch of a nearby tree was what appeared to be a young boy with a short, slender figure and long, black hair which was held in a bun-holder while two locks of hair were loose, framing his face, which was covered in a white mask.

The mask had a crimson pattern emblazoned on its bottom half, while the symbol of the Hidden Mist was engraved where the forehead would be. The boy, whom Zabuza had called Haku, was also wearing a green, striped turtle neck underneath a short, greenish blue kimono with white edges. Around his waist was a greenish brown obi that wrapped around the kimono. (A.N. Yes, I'm referring to Haku as a boy, but don't fret, fem-Haku lovers. The reason why Haku is being referred to as a male is because this description is from Kakashi's point of view, and he can't really tell what gender he/she is behind the mask. As for whether he/she is a guy or girl in this fic, well, that's still a secret, hehe.)

Held in his fingertips were the same senbon that had been thrown at Kakashi and his student just moments earlier.

"My apologies," said the boy with a voice like ice itself, "I don't indulge in the art of killing, but if it is to protect Zabuza-sama, then so be it. I will kill you…"

"My apologies," echoed another voice from behind him, causing the masked shinobi to tense up and give a soft, startled gasp.

Kakashi and Zabuza's eyes both widened when they noticed a certain, blonde figure standing menacingly behind Haku while holding a chakra blade to his neck. For Kakashi, the scene was just so similar and so akin to that of another scene from when he was young pre-teen in the Third Shinobi World War, watching his sensei interrogate a hapless Iwa-nin from behind with a Flying Thunder God kunai held to their neck. Naruto's pose and his cold, professional aura were even the same as that of his father's. It was almost nostalgic.

"…I don't indulge in the art of killing," continued Namikaze Naruto forebodingly, "but if it is to protect the old man Tazuna and my team, then so be it. I will kill you."

* * *

><p>Somewhere, in the Hidden Rain Village…<p>

"So; you're a renowned puppet master who turned yourself into a living puppet, huh," said Konan, finally breaking the long awkward silence that had set in after her lover and the _Rikudou Hiraishin_ had left them in the room alone together to discuss a few matters.

"Yes, in a nutshell. And I heard that you're an origami artist who can transform your own body into pieces of paper that you can control at will," said the Suna missing-nin.

"…basically," replied Konan. Another, much shorter awkward moment occurred after her response, before being broken this time by the redhead.

"That's hot," said Sasori in a deadpan manner.

TBC

A.N. And the plot thickens! Like I said in the last chapter, I have big plans for the Wave Arc. Oh, and by the way, the creepy guy hunting Zabuza and Kakashi in the shadows is NOT an OC. I'll give a cookie to anyone who guesses his identity. Ok, not really, but you get the point.

As for Danzo, well, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes right about now. You know your screwed when you have Uchiha Fucking Itachi and the goddamn Fourth Hokage after your shriveled, ancient ass. But I assure you, when that particular confrontation takes place in the near future, it shall be EPIC!

Before I forget, I need to give you readers out there some unfortunate news. Due to AP tests and finals coming up for me, my update rate will be slower in coming weeks. All I need is my damn pre-calculus grade to be one letter higher and I'll be set for college, damn it!

Anways, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. More action and not as much humor as previous chapters, but I hope it was still a good read. Keep reading and reviewing, peope!


	17. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: (speaking terrible spanish) Me no owno el Naruto-oh!

Author's Note: So, this chapter is kinda short, and is almost all action, but I added in a little, funny omake at the end to inject some humor. To be honest, with all school crap that I had to deal with lately, I kind of rushed this chapter a bit, but I hope you all enjoy it anyways...

Chapter 16: Kakashi's Bluff

"…_I don't indulge in the art of killing," continued Namikaze Naruto forebodingly, "but if it is to protect the old man Tazuna and my team, then so be it. I will kill you."_

The tension was unbearable. All four shinobi present had stiffened up considerably, waiting for who would make the first move. Kakashi eyed Zabuza like a hawk while occasionally glancing at his blonde student, who was still positioned behind the masked newcomer with a chakra blade held to his neck.

"Make a move; any move, any move at all…and I'll slit your throat in an instant," whispered Naruto in the coldest voice possible. Kakashi shivered; was this really the same cheerful, upbeat blonde boy that liked ramen and spending time with his sister.

Haku's fingers twitched; movement. Then suddenly…

…slice, went Naruto's blade as it slit across the masked-nin's throat, causing a spray of liquid to burst from the wound. The liquid was not blood, however, but rather…it was water.

'_A water clone!_' exclaimed Naruto mentally, his eyes widening before the body in front of him exploded in a splash of water, drenching him from head to toe. That wasn't the end of it, unfortunately. The next thing Naruto knew, all of the remaining water suspended in the air clumped together before hardening into frozen pinpricks of ice; senbon needles. He was utterly surrounded by them.

"_Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suisho_ (Hidden Technique: Thousand Flying Water Needles)!" echoed a voice that embodied the very concept of cold. With that, the water needles all rained down on Naruto's position. Thankfully, by then, the blonde-haired Namikaze had already vanished with _Shunshin no Jutsu_, causing the needles to become embedded into the tree branch he had been standing upon before dispersing back into liquid water.

Seeing both their students disappear from sight, Kakashi and Zabuza immediately resumed their fight, charging at each other with weapons drawn. With a resounding clang, Kakashi's kunai and Zabuza's Decapitating Carving Knife crashed against each other in a flare of sparks.

Back on the other side of the lake, where Tazuna and the other two members were stuck waiting for their third teammate and their jonin-sensei, an unbelievably cold feeling began chilling the air, unnerving Sasuke and Kurama. Gripping his kunai tightly, Sasuke, although nervous, was determined not to let Naruto show him up any longer.

In the corner of his eyes, a figure materialized on top of a tree branch before a glint of silver flew through the air, heading straight for their client. Sasuke tried to move in order to intercept the thrown senbon needles, for that was what the silver projectiles were, but he was far too slow. He wouldn't make it in time.

Thankfully, he didn't have to, as a flash of yellow intercepted the senbon midflight before they could pierce Tazuna's vital organs. Now standing in front of him was Namikaze Naruto with his chakra blade raised while the deflected needles plummeted helplessly to the ground.

Unfortunately for Team 7, the masked shinobi who called himself Haku was undaunted by this failure, and immediately initiated another charge. This time, Haku used his own shunshin to flicker behind Tazuna before throwing a hail of senbon at his exposed backside and then shunshin-ing away again towards the lake.

Thanks to his impressive reflexes, the blonde Konoha genin was able to flash to the other side of Tazuna and deflect the senbon again. Using another body flicker, Naruto intercepted Haku mid-shunshin with a left-hand smash to his mask-covered cheek, sending the androgynous shinobi careening back to Earth.

Following impact, Haku found himself surrounded by a plethora of Kurama's _kage bunshin_. The small army of clones descended upon Haku like a hammer descended upon an anvil, kunai held in each and every one of their hands. Smirking behind his mask, Haku took out a few senbon before flickering out of existence momentarily. A tenth of a second later, all of the Kurama clones were sliced apart by a rapid flurry of high-speed movement that was unperceivable to the typical human eye.

When the smoke cleared from the dispelling clones, only Haku remained. The agile ninja charged at the original Kurama with senbon in hand. The red-haired vixen brought up a kunai in a futile attempt to parry the charging senbon-user, but was immediately shocked when Haku disappeared and reappeared behind her.

What followed was the same storm of razor-sharp blurs that had destroyed Kurama's shadow clones, but this time, whenever one of the blurs struck Kurama, a yellow flash would appear at the same spot, blocking it. One strike, two strike, three strike, all the way to a total of over seventeen strikes; every single one blocked by a yellow flash. The entire sequence began and finished in half a second, and it left Kurama completely untouched despite her being in the middle of it all.

The yellow flashes had done their jobs.

* * *

><p>Back with the two jonin, who were still engaged in a fierce taijutsu battle. Despite having a weapon that wasn't even a tenth of Zabuza's, both lengthwise and widthwise, Kakashi was able to hold his own thanks to his superior speed and agility.<p>

Zabuza, having grown tired of close-combat, jumped away from Kakashi in order to put some distance between them. Kakashi did the same, mimicking his foe's actions. The two adult ninja were now facing each other with nearly ten meters of space between them. Gathering chakra, Zabuza began a long sequence of hand seals which the Copy-nin imitated using his Sharingan.

Over forty seals later, both Zabuza and Kakashi called out in unison, "_Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu_ (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique)!" With that, two colossal dragon-shaped figures made entirely of water emerged from the lake before attacking each other. There collision sprayed water everywhere, while the two water dragons continued butting heads before eventually collapsing back into the lake, followed by a massive upward explosion of water.

In the middle of it all, the Konoha jonin and the missing-nin had reengaged each other, with Kakashi's kunai trying to hold back the immense strength and force of Zabuza's _Kubikiribocho_.

'_Strange…what's going on_?' wondered Zabuza mentally before they both disengaged again, putting distance in between them selves. The two combatants circled around each other, with Kakashi imitating Zabuza's movements perfectly, unnerving the former Kiri-nin.

After they had circled around and ended up on their opposite sides, Zabuza raised one arm into the air and formed a hand seal, which Kakashi copied, alarming the eyebrow-less swordsman further. Zabuza formed another hand seal, which Kakashi also copied exactly.

"My movements; he's completely…" began Zabuza

"…reading them," finished Kakashi, further confusing his enemy.

"What? Did he read my mind?" question Zabuza, with a look of utter bafflement on his face and sweat running down his forehead. The menacing crimson eye in Kakashi's left socket was starting to have a negative effect on his morale. Zabuza formed another hand seal, which Kakashi once again imitated.

"Damn, that…!"

"…freaky eye is pissing me off! Right?"

"Hah! All you're doing is copying me."

"You can't beat me you monkey bastard!"

"Damn you!" exclaimed Zabuza before his hands burst into a flurry of hand seals; the swordsman was clearly aggravated by his adversary's mockery of him, "I'll make it so…"

"….you can never open that damn mouth of yours ever again!"

While both jonin were racing to see who could finish their hand seal sequence first, Zabuza noticed something that completely unhinged him. It was barely noticeable, but there was a blurry image superimposed on the background behind Kakashi. It looked like…himself.

'_Is that…me? But that's impossible_,' questioned Zabuza in his mind, '_This must be one of his genjutsu…_'

While Zabuza was distracted by this, Kakashi had already completely the hand seals.

"_Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu _(Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique)!" exclaimed Kakashi with the _tomoe_ in his Sharingan revolving at immense speeds.

"What! Impossible!" exclaimed Zabuza, "It's my technique, but I can't even keep up!"

A torrent of rotating water streamed around Kakashi before surging forward, becoming a raging waterfall-like vortex that smashed into Zabuza, blowing him across the lake. The massive torrent continued on past the lake, carving a path of devastation through the forest that ended with Zabuza slammed harshly against a tree.

Before he could recover, the swordsman was pinned against the tree by a hail of kunai thrown by the Copy-nin, who flickered on top of a branch overlooking Zabuza's position.

Looking back at him, Zabuza asked, "How? Can you…can you see the future?"

"Yeah, I can," answered Kakashi with a kunai held in hand and a threatening expression on his face, "So listen up, because this is what the future is telling me. You're going to di-…"

BAM! A black blur suddenly slammed into Kakashi, sweeping him out of sight in the blink of an eye, leaving Zabuza alone and still pinned to the tree.

Zabuza stared at the spot where the Copy-nin had just been standing on a few seconds ago, with a highly amused look on his bandaged face.

"Well, how 'bout that."

* * *

><p>The black blur that had swept Kakashi away blew through the forest at blinding speeds before crash landing into the lake like a meteor. Where it impacted, a fountain of water exploded upwards before plummeting back to Earth, accompanied by a drizzle. When the displaced water subsided, Kakashi was left hunched over on the lake's surface, wracked by a fit of coughs from the pain.<p>

"W-what…hit me?" muttered Kakashi, slightly delirious.

"I did," responded a deep and gruff voice from below the water. The Copy-nin's eyes widened in horror as he witnessed a figure emerge from the depths of the lake, like a demon arising out of hell. The demonic figure was a tall, tanned, muscular man who towered over Kakashi.

He wore a white hood and a black mask, with his eyes being the only visible part of his face. They had an unusual colouring: green irises, no pupils and red sclera. On his forehead was a Takigakure _hitae-ate _with a line scratched through the middle, denoting his status as a missing-nin.

He had on a black shirt with no backside, as four unusual masks were sown upon his back. He was also wearing a pair of navy-blue pants suspended by a white sash, and a pair of black ninja sandals. Like the four masks, most of his body was held together by stitches.

"You're…I r-recognize you…from the…from the bingo book," stammered Kakashi with an eye widened in fear, "Kakazu of the Earth Grudge Fear; an S-Rank criminal and _nuke-nin_."

"And you're without a doubt the famous Copy Ninja Kakashi. You have quite the bounty on your head; one which I plan to collect," explained the legendary shinobi.

"Is that why you're here? Have you come to kill me…or maybe your aim is to take me alive?"

"It was dead or alive, so yes, I'm going to kill you," replied Kakuzu, "It's much easier to collect a bounty when all I have to do is turn in your severed head."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Kakashi before vanishing in a flicker of motion. Kakuzu wasn't considered a legend for nothing, however; as soon as Kakashi had shunshin-ed away, the former Taki-nin made a quick 180˚ before launching his right arm, which remained attached to the rest of his body via tentacle-like black threads.

The ejected arm moved extremely fast, successfully grabbing onto Kakashi's leg while he was still in the middle of the Body Flicker Technique. Startled from the sudden deceleration, the scarecrow was helpless to stop Kakuzu's detached arm from swinging him around like a rag doll and throwing him over fifty feet away, sending him tumbling across the water.

After tossing the Leaf jonin away, the bounty hunter's right arm reattached itself to his body before Kakuzu resumed his charged. Leaping forward with immense velocity and power, the S-Rank shinobi propelled himself at the still recovering copycat before pummeling him in the face with a left-hand smash.

Kakuzu followed that up by grabbing Kakashi harshly by the neck, spinning him around, and then delivering a devastating kick to his stomach region, sending the silver-haired Cyclops flying away. Kakashi rebounded quickly before rushing at his opponent with another shunshin.

The Hatake reappeared behind his foe before hitting Kakuzu's backside with a powerful spinning kick. Despite the force behind the attack, the greedy criminal didn't even flinch and retaliated by opening the mouths of all four of his masks. Alarmed by this, Kakashi took out a kunai and stabbed it into Kakuzu's shoulder before flickering away just as a combined torrent of fire, lightning, wind, and mud erupted from the four masks.

After his overwhelming counterattack subsided, Kakuzu removed the blunted kunai from his hardened skin, which was reinforced by _Doton: Domu _(Earth Release: Earth Spear). Immediately noticing the exploding tag attached to it, ready to detonate, Kakuzu took the throwing knife and flinged it at Kakashi, who had reappeared several meters to his right.

Noticing the rigged projectile heading straight for him, Kakashi rapidly formed a series of hand seals before exclaiming, "_Suiton: Suijinheki _(Water Release: Water Encampment Wall)!" A wave of water rushed upwards, surrounding the _ninjutsu_ expert like a protective envelop. The thrown kunai impacted against the water wall before exploding. Although the watery defense cushioned most of the blast and successfully protected its creator, it was blown apart in the process, showering Kakashi with water.

"It's useless, Kakashi-san," taunted the former Takigakure shinobi, "You're out of your league. I was doing battle with the likes of the First Hokage when your father was just a fetus in his mother's womb."

'_As much as I hate to admit it, he's right_,' mused Kakashi mentally, '_that massively overpowered attack he used earlier when I had kicked him in the back; that had four of the six types of nature transformation in it. I've never seen a shinobi use so many elements at once. It's absolutely mindboggling. This guy's obviously an S-Rank for a reason_.'

"Although I commend you for lasting as long as you did; I'm afraid that it's over now. You've already wasted enough of my time as it is. I need to eliminate you so I can take out the swordsman as well," said Kakuzu before beginning a sequence of hand seals.

'_He's after Zabuza too_…'

"_Suiton: Gofu_ (Water Release: Five Seals)!" exclaimed Kakuzu before the water underneath Kakashi's feet became alive with malicious intent.

* * *

><p>Momochi Zabuza winced slightly as he ripped out the last kunai stabbing him from his lower thigh. It had been an excruciatingly painful process, but he was no longer pinned to the tree and free to return to the battle.<p>

Ignoring the grueling pain from his wounds, the Demon of the Hidden Mist gripped the massive broadsword on his back before taking it out. After giving it a few experimental swings, the Kiri missing-nin smirked behind his bandaged lower face before shunshin-ing towards the lake and his silver-haired rival.

He had a fight to finish.

* * *

><p>An outside observer would describe the battle scene between Naruto and Haku as a clash of flickers and flashes as the two collided with each other using shunshin-enhanced super speed; one, a yellow flash, and the other, a black flicker, zigzagging across the background like two dueling lightning bolts. With one last high velocity encounter, Haku was knocked back to Earth; landing on his feet.<p>

Zabuza's apprentice skidded across the ground before throwing an onslaught of senbon needles at his Leaf enemies with both hands swinging about and releasing the thin projectiles. After noticing the barrage of senbon, Kurama, the closest, formed a cross-seal before creating a wall of kage bunshin, who all took out kunai and deflected the needles.

Kurama counterattacked by having herself and all of her clones jump high into the air before projecting streams of fire from their mouths, consuming the forest where Haku was standing with a raging inferno. After the Kurama clones halted their fire techniques, one of the clones was turned into a human pincushion by a sudden senbon attack coming from the resulting ash cloud, immediately dispelling it in mid-air.

This was followed by another clone being dispelled, and another, and another, and another; all in quick succession, until the small army of Kurama clones had been utterly decimated, leaving only Kurama herself left. The original almost followed in her clones' fates when a flurry of needles flew towards her, but her brother Naruto flashed in at the last minute and swiped her out of the sky.

The two siblings reappeared a way's away on the ground, with Naruto holding his sister bridal style. Kurama winced, feeling the pain from the few senbon that had managed to lodge themselves in her left ankle.

Over a dozen meters away, Haku emerged skidding from the smoke cloud created from Kurama's previous _Katon_ bombardment before stopping to a halt at the lake's shore. The rogue ninja immediately formed a set of half-seals before summoning a small mass of water from the lake. He infused the liquid mass with _Hyouton _chakra; freezing it and forming a hardened spear of ice.

The Ice Release user took the makeshift lance and hurled at Naruto, who was still busy tending to his sister's wounds. The ice spear would have pierced its mark too if a set of shuriken that had been thrown by Sasuke hadn't intercepted it in mid-flight, disrupting its trajectory.

Now aware of the projectile that had almost killed him, Naruto gently let go of Kurama before turning around and charging towards his foe. Reaching out, the blonde genin grabbed Haku's ice spear in mid-fall before using a quick shunshin to close the gap between him and his enemy. Once he had reappeared directly in front of the senbon-user, Naruto thrust at Haku with the ice spear, aiming to kill him with his own weapon.

Haku was quick to react, however; releasing a burst of chakra from the soles of his feet, the missing-nin was propelled upwards with a chakra-assisted leap, jumping over the charging Namikaze. Once gravity regained its hold on him, Haku's right foot landed on Naruto's back before he pushed off it, jumping again and doing a somersault in mid-air.

Haku landed a few feet behind Naruto before taking out a senbon and throwing them, nailing Naruto in the back before he exploded in smoke, revealing a punctured log in his place. Cursing the use of the Body Replacement Technique, Haku flickered away but was intercepted mid-shunshin by a yellow flash, knocking the Ice-user back. After regaining his footing, Haku looked around for the Hokage's son but did not spot him until Naruto jumped out of the tree cover that had been hiding him.

Taking out a few shuriken, the blonde-haired Namikaze tossed them at Haku before forming a sequence of hand-seals at blinding speeds.

"_Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_ (Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique)!" exclaimed Naruto, multiplying the number of projectiles he had thrown from a few to a few dozen.

Noticing the barrage of shuriken, Haku went through his own set of seals before crying out, "_Ice Release: Protective Ice Dome_!" A sphere of frozen water materialized around Haku, causing the incoming shuriken to bounce harmlessly off the hardened ice.

Seeing that his shuriken attack had been a failure, Naruto landed skidding on the ground before taking out a kunai and throwing it at the ice dome. The kunai bounced off like the shuriken had before detonating thanks to an attached exploding tag. The resulting blast engulfed the icy cocoon, obscuring it from view.

For extra measure, Naruto fired a stream of pressurized wind from his mouth. The torrent of air collided with its intended target, immediately clearing the cloud of smoke surrounding it and revealing the ice dome to be completely intact. Naruto added more chakra to his wind technique, hoping to blow through the ice dome with his _Fuuton_. Alas, he was unsuccessful, as the defensive Hyouton withstood the attack without as much as a crack.

Realizing the futility of his current tactics, Naruto switch gears. He fired another airstream from his lips, but instead of aiming for Haku, he fired the current of air at the ground in front of him, rising up a cloud of dust.

From inside his dome of ice, Haku eyed the dust cloud with suspicion, preparing himself for whatever was to come out of it. On the other side of the dust, Kurama and Sasuke were rushing towards the scene, ready to give aid to their third teammate if needed. Their assistance went unneeded; however, as a figure burst from the top of the dust cloud, jumping high over Haku's protective ice dome.

Kurama, Sasuke, and Haku all watched in awe as the figure, Naruto, charged straight downwards while holding a cerulean sphere of spiraling chakra in his right palm. Rotating wisps of smoke-like energy tendrils were being emitted in the sphere's wake, and a ring of radiance surrounded its outer shell.

'_Naruto, he's…he's going to use "that" jutsu. It's over now_,' stated Kurama mentally,

'_N-No way; I've heard about that technique before. They talked about it at the academy, but to think that the dobe actually knows it! That's the…the legendary_…' thought Sasuke.

"RASENGAN!" Naruto bellowed as he rammed his ultimate offensive jutsu onto the top of Haku's ice dome. A wave of chaotic chakra erupted from the point of impact, swirling around the Rasengan like a whirlwind of energy. It began rotating faster and faster until it reached a critical point, exploding outwards in the process. The explosion of azure chakra engulfed Naruto and the ice dome in a bright white light.

* * *

><p>"<em>Suiton: Gofu<em> (Water Release: Five Seals)!" exclaimed Kakuzu before the water underneath Kakashi's feet became alive with malicious intent.

Sensing an attack from below, Kakashi immediately jumped…only for his leg to be abruptly ensnared by what seemed to be a tentacle of water. The tentacle swung him around wildly by the leg before slamming him into the lake's surface repeatedly, until the point where Kakashi was beginning to feel lightheaded.

When it was done with him, the tentacle raised him up, dangling him by his leg before more tentacle-like tendrils of water emerged from the lake. The numerous water tentacles wrapped around the various limbs of Kakashi's body, leaving him immobilized and hanging upside-down in the air. One of the water tentacles enveloped Kakashi's neck before squeezing.

Kakashi groaned in pain as the liquid-composed limb began suffocating him.

"Is…this…your…plan…are…you…going…to…choke…me…to death," muttered Kakashi in between anguish breaths of stifled air.

"Hehe, not quite," replied the former Taki-nin, "My technique is just going to keep squeezing until your head pops off."

Kakashi's eyes widened in abject horror after hearing what Kakuzu had said. That's when he noticed a spinning projectile careening towards him at the corner of his vision; a projectile that strongly resembled Zabuza's Kubikiribocho.

The flying broadsword cut through the roots of the water tentacles binding Kakashi, freeing him from their grip. No longer suspended, Kakashi fell gracefully to the surface, landing on his feet as the excess water drenched him from top to bottom.

Kakashi watched as the Kubikiribocho continued spiraling through the air until it became embedded in the bark of a tree near the opposite shoreline. A figure flickered over the massive blade, landing on its handle and revealing himself to be Momochi Zabuza.

Realizing that he now had a potential ally against Kakuzu, the Copy-nin vanished with a pop of smoke before reappearing on a tree branch next to Zabuza.

Turning his head, Kakashi addressed the former Mist shinobi, "Well, well; that was rather unexpected. I didn't think _you_ of all people would ever end up saving me."

Zabuza snorted, "Don't get any ideas, Copycat. I just didn't want this freak-show stealing my kill. You're only allowed to die by my hands, Kakashi!"

"Whatever you say, Zabuza-kun," replied Kakashi with a hint of amusement, "How 'bout we try the classic "enemy of my enemy" approach. By ourselves, we're no match for Kakuzu. But together…"

"I…fine; I'll play along," said Zabuza reluctantly, "You're lucky I'm pragmatic, bitch."

* * *

><p>When the white light finally dissipated, Haku was left standing unprotected, with shards of shattered ice surrounding her; remnants of the obliterated ice dome. Naruto had been launched straight up in the air due to the kickback of his Rasengan, having yet to have come back down. After noticing that Haku was still alive but now vulnerable, Naruto called out to his raven-haired teammate, who was standing by on the sidelines.<p>

"Sasuke! You're up!"

"I got this, dobe," replied Sasuke before going through a set of hand seals, "_Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu _(Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique)!"

The Uchiha heir inhaled a large gulp of air before spitting an inferno from his lips. The flames took the shape of a humongous, blazing fireball which flew towards Haku, who would be incinerated upon contact. The masked ice-user jumped in order to evade the approaching fireball, but Naruto choose that very moment to dive down from the sky and drop kick Haku back into the fireball's path.

With no more time to dodge, Haku was forced to resort to desperate measures. Zabuza's apprentice mustered his Hyouton abilities and used them to attract the scattered ice shards lying on the ground around him. The ice shards, drawn together by the Ice Release chakra collected in Haku's palm, formed a makeshift barrier in front of Haku. The improvised ice barrier blocked Sasuke's Grand Fireball Technique, resulting in a searing explosion.

Blown back slightly by the force of the explosion, Naruto ended up landing a few meters away, while his sister Kurama regrouped at the other side of the resulting debris cloud and Sasuke remained where he was. Not wanting to give Haku the benefit of a smokescreen, Naruto quickly used his Gale Palm technique to clear the area.

With that, Haku was now completely exposed and surrounded on all sides by the three genin members of Team 7.

"Give it up and surrender already," said Naruto, addressing his outnumbered foe, "You can't win anymore. But I promise you; if you leave our client alone, I won't be forced to kill you."

Haku shook her head, "No; I can't…it is Zabuza-sama's will that the bridge builder be killed, and I am his tool. I will not…no, I cannot back down."

Naruto sighed while gripping the chakra blade in his hand a little tighter, "Fine then…just don't say I didn't warn you."

"Please, don't underestimate me just yet. I still have a few tricks up my sleeves," taunted Haku before collapsing into a puddle of water. Naruto, Sasuke, and Kurama all gasped in shock as they realized that the one they had all surrounded was just a water clone.

The three Leaf genin searched around for their enemy, but it was Naruto who finally spotted Haku when he flickered in at the corner of the blonde's peripheral vision. Releasing a burst of chakra from his feet, Naruto shunshin-ed forward and slashed at Haku with his chakra blade, but the missing-nin parried his strike with an instantly formed icicle spear reinforced with Hyouton chakra.

With one hand holding the ice spear blocking Naruto's blade, and the other hand forming half-seals, Haku exclaimed, "Now, I'm going to show you my true power, and the reason why Zabuza-sama considers me his greatest weapon."

Naruto smirked, "True power, huh. Well, just let me know if "true power" wants his ass kicked or something."

"Hmph; that's enough! _Hijutsu: Makyo Hyos_-…"

* * *

><p>"Looks like you two plan on double teaming me, eh," said Kakuzu as he watched the two jonin-level shinobi approach him while flaring their killing intent, "I have to admit; this isn't exactly where I wanted to be right now. But I made contingencies for a situation like this anyways."<p>

Kakashi and Zabuza glared at him murderously for a good second before they split up and rushed him from different directions. Kakuzu blocked both of their strikes with his raised forearms, hardened by Earth chakra as they were.

"Contingencies, huh? But will they really be enough?" questioned Kakashi mockingly.

"See for yourselves," replied the bounty hunter before knocking both of his enemies away with a swing of both arms. After being pushed back, Kakuzu's two targets jumped away, putting distance between themselves and the S-Rank nin.

What happened next, however, was one of the most terrifyingly grotesque scenes that either of them had ever witnessed. Kakashi and Zabuza watched in aghast as Kakuzu began straining himself as the four masks sown to his backside started bulging, swelling, and rippling. The stitches around the ragdoll-like figure's back and shoulders started to come undone, bursting at the seams.

Then, with a nightmarish ripping sound, the massive bulges that had formed on the bounty hunter's back exploded, releasing a deluge of black, gel-like threads. The black threads wove amongst themselves, building on each other until they formed shapes, which combined to form other, larger shapes, which lumped together into what could almost be called caricatures; hideous, demonic caricatures of different animal species.

There were four black thread-creatures; one for each of Kakuzu's masks. One was in the shape of a demonic, beaked bipedal, another resembled a demonic tiger, the third was some sort of extremely deformed bipedal, and the last was a strange, four legged body with thin wings.

"This is my ultimate technique," boasted Kakuzu as the gaps on his back stitched themselves together, "_Jiongu_."

'_Earth Grudge Fear, huh? So this is the technique that made you legendary…_' thought Kakashi. Zabuza squeezed the handle of Kubikiribocho a little harder in preparation for the battle to come, while his temporary partner took out two kunai to fight with.

Kakuzu smirked behind his mask, "If you're prepared…then there won't be any sorrow…"

* * *

><p>It was force of habit which coerced the raven-haired teen into visiting <em>his<em> grave.

In less then half-an-hour, he would be embarking on a dangerous S-Rank mission, and it was always a sort of custom for him to pay his respects to the dead man who once was his best friend before taking on any high-level assignments.

And thus, with a somber look on his face, Itachi bent down and gently caressed the tombstone marking Uchiha Shisui's grave.

"I thought I'd find you here," said a voice that had snuck up on Itachi, causing the seventeen-year old ANBU Commander to give a slight, startled gasp. When he was paying respects to Shisui, Itachi always had his guard down, making it easier for others to sneak up on him. It was a fact that Itachi hated, and he genuinely believed that it would be his undoing someday. But he just couldn't help it.

Turning around, the eldest son of Fugaku found himself face to face with one Inuzuka Hana, the eldest daughter of her family's clan head, Tsume.

"Hello, Hana," greeted the Sharingan-user pleasantly.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Excuse me."

"Why didn't you tell me you were going away on a mission," reiterated the shinobi veterinarian.

"How did you know?" questioned Itachi in a cross between curiosity and suspicion.

"I know you, silly," replied Hana before walking up to him, cupping his cheeks and giving him a brief, but passionate kiss on the lips, "You always visit Shisui's grave before a mission, especially a dangerous one. What is it this time? S-Rank?"

"Yeah…"

"It's probably classified then. You can't tell me anything, and if for some reason you did, you'd have to kill me, wouldn't you?"

"…"

"The look on your face, Itachi…is just so damn serious; it's almost cute in a way," teased Hana with a smile.

Itachi blushed just ever so slightly, but it was easily noticed by his girlfriend, who had an impossible time of trying to resist laughing at the sight of the normally calm and collected ANBU Commander red in the face.

"H-Hana…"

"You never answered my question," continued the dog-lover, "Why didn't you tell me you were leaving?"

Itachi sighed audibly, "I didn't want you to worry."

Hana sighed in return before replying, "Itachi, please…you can't push people away because of reasons like that. Friends, family, _lovers_ are supposed to worry about you. You really should have told me. But it's okay; I understand you."

For a long while, Itachi just looked at his girlfriend without speaking in response, causing an awkward silence to set in before the raven-haired teenager suddenly pulled Hana into another passionate kiss.

They continued on with their lips locked until oxygen became scarce and they were forced to break the kiss, reluctantly.

"I…I have to go," stated Itachi with an air of finality.

"I know."

And then Uchiha Itachi was gone with a flicker, leaving Inuzuka Hana alone in the cemetery. She smirked.

'_The truth is…I'm not worried about you at all. You'll complete this mission, alive, like every other; I know you will_.'

* * *

><p>"I have to be honest; you two put up a good fight," said Kakuzu, "But in the end…it wasn't enough."<p>

Hatake Kakashi and Momochi Zabuza were both surrounded at the moment on all sides by Kakuzu's four demonic familiars. The two jonin were covered in injuries from Kakuzu's relentless assault; burn marks, bruises from Doton-enhanced fists, massive cuts and welts from being grazed by pressurized air blasts, and obvious signs of electrocution.

Both Kakashi and Zabuza were suffering from chakra exhaustion, despite the fact that they had both taken soldier pills earlier in the battle. Kubirkibocho was ashen black from deflecting one-too-many fireballs, while Kakashi's jonin vest had been sheared off by the wake of a massive wind attack, leaving him in his black undershirt and a tattered mask.

'_This man…he's a monster_,' mused Kakashi gravely, '_Even with Zabuza and me fighting him together, he's still too much for us. Everything we try just seems to fail. The only way we can get out of this alive is if I used "that" plan, and pray that he doesn't see through my bluff_.'

'_How can this freak use so many different elements simultaneously at such a high-level_,' thought Zabuza, '_So far, I've counted fire, lightning, and wind ninjutsu from him, and there's also that water technique from earlier which I had to save Kakashi from. Plus, I'm pretty sure his skin hardening jutsu is a Doton_.'

"It's over!" screamed Kakuzu as both his arms extended and went flying at his two foes. Once his hands wrapped themselves around their necks, they would squeeze and squeeze and squeeze until both of their heads popped off. At least, that was the plan. But plans usually don't survive contact with reality.

"STOP!" exclaimed Kakashi abruptly just as one of Kakuzu's hands was about to strangle him. Normally, this wouldn't have been nearly enough to get the former Taki-nin to halt his charge, but what Kakashi did next was a good reason for a pause.

He was holding a kunai to his own neck.

"Don't come any closer, or I'll slit my own neck!" cried Kakashi in a desperate tone.

Kakuzu's eyes narrowed before replying, "You do know that I plan on taking you dead, not alive. It doesn't matter if you kill yourself, as long as I have a head left to collect your bounty."

Kakashi smirked behind his ruined mask, while Zabuza furrowed his nonexistent brows in confusion at his temporary ally's actions, "That's the trick; you _need_ to present a _recognizable_ head in order to collect our bounties. Or else no one will believe you killed us."

"Yeah, and what of it; where are you going with this?" asked Kakuzu, puzzled by Kakashi's statement.

Kakashi, with the kunai still held to his own neck, started fumbling with something behind his back. After a few seconds of rummaging, the Copy-nin pulled out the white, snow rabbit from earlier.

Zabuza's eyes widened, '_What the hell! D-did he just pull a rabbit out of his ass, or what_?'

"That…is a rabbit," deadpanned Kakuzu.

"No shit, dumbass!" mocked Zabuza. Ignoring the two, Kakashi took his kunai and slit the poor, defenseless rabbit's neck, killing it. Nothing happened for a brief moment, but then, the rabbit's corpse started convulsing, twisting, and morphing in a disgusting manner. It was like the dead animal was being mutated by some kind of radiation, and it was no longer recognizable by the end of it all.

Now, instead of having a rabbit, Kakashi was holding a formless red mass of oozing mush that looked more like a science project gone wrong than any kind of once-living creature.

"As you can see, the _poison_ I coated my kunai with causes the destruction of any organic matter it makes contact with. The end result is a completely unrecognizable body, like what I'm holding right now. In fact, the poison is so thorough, even a DNA test can't prove that this was the same rabbit from before," explained Kakashi.

Realization dawned on Kakuzu, prompting him to give a muffled curse, "And you plan on using it on yourself, which means…"

"That's right…if I cut myself with this poisoned kunai, not only will I die, but my body will be twisted to the point where no one will be able to identify me. You won't be able to collect my bounty, which means that this whole endeavor will have been useless to you."

"Very clever, Hatake Kakashi; very clever," praised Kakuzu with a tone of contempt.

"I would leave now if I were you," continued the Sharingan-user, "If you don't stop your attack soon, I'll kill myself with this."

Zabuza decided to go along with his short-term partner's plan, "And don't get any ideas, freak, 'cuz I'm in on this too. I'll cut myself with that same poisoned kunai and you won't be able to get even a single _Ryo_ out of my death."

"Hmph, fine; it looks like I've been outsmarted. I have a feeling that I'll lose my chance at some profit if I continue, so pat your selves on the back; I'm leaving. But make no mistake…I will be back," declared Kakuzu before his four demonic familiars left Kakashi and Zabuza's sides and re-converged on their master. With a sickening squelch, the black thread-like creatures squeezed themselves back into Kakuzu's body.

Then a swirling vortex of water enveloped Kakuzu for a moment before dispersing, and the bounty hunter was gone.

Seeing the legendary shinobi leave prompted Zabuza to sigh in relief; he hadn't faced anyone that powerful since his "coup" against the former Mizukage. That's when he noticed that the once-rabbit-now-oozing red mass that Kakashi was holding started getting hazy, like its image was being distorted. Then, the image faded away completely, revealing the rabbit in its original form once again.

Zabuza's eyes widened, '_Genjutsu! So that was your bluff, Copycat. I should've known; there's no poison in the world that causes such a reaction_.'

"Hey, Kakashi," began Zabuza, "It looks like our mutual enemy has left. Which means…"

Suddenly, Zabuza slashed Kakashi with his massive blade, cutting his body in half.

"…you're dead!" finished Zabuza. To his immediate distress, however, Kakashi's body vanished in a poof of smoke, leaving a bisected log in its place.

Feeling a powerful chakra presence from behind, Zabuza turns around to find Kakashi charging at him with a ball of compressed lightning in the palm of his outstretched hand. With no time to dodge, the former Mist jonin sheathed his gigantic carving knife before executing a sequence of hand seals.

"Suiton: Suijinheki!" exclaimed Zabuza as a wall of water arose from the lake, surrounding him in a watery, torrential defense.

"_Raikiri_!" cried out Kakashi as he pierced the water wall with his Lightning Cutter. The shocking electricity illuminates the mass of liquid before a bright blue light engulfs them both.

TBC

Omake #1: A Funny Thing Happened On the Way Here

Top ramen. Cinnamon buns. Top ramen. Cinnamon buns. Top ramen. Cinnamon bu-…

"Don't move!" growled a voice, prompting Choetsu to look up from the excruciatingly difficult and challenging quandary that was plaguing him; whether to buy a cup of delicious, delectable top ramen noodles, or a packet of oh-so sweet cinnamon buns. Why ramen and cinnamon buns were sitting next to each other in the same aisle, well, even a True Rikudou doesn't know the answer to that mystery.

In front of the store counter was a man wearing a dark black turtleneck and black, ninja pants, although Choetsu could tell the man wasn't a shinobi. There was ski mask covering his face, and held in his left hand was a cheap-looking _wakizashi_. He was pointing the blade dangerously close to the neck of the shop's clerk, who was an attractive, pale-skin brunette wearing a low-cut tank-top, showing off her impressive cleavage.

The brunette woman had her hands up in the air and a look of terror reflected in her eyes.

"Now that I've got you're attention, baby-face, I hope you wouldn't mind filling up this bag of mine with all that cash in your register," said the criminal with a slimy tone as he lecherously eyed the gorgeous store clerk. Fearing for her life, the woman was about to comply when Choetsu decided to intervene.

"Um, excuse me, sir," said the _Rikudou Hiraishin_ as he calmly addressed the masked burglar. Turning around, the petty thief glared at him with a murderous look.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Oh, you mean me? I'm no one, really," replied Choetsu dismissively, "I just wanted to let you know that you're a total asshole."

"Why you!" raged the criminal as he charged at Choetsu with his wakizashi. Grabbing a bag of potato chips from one of the selves, the Rinnegan-user chucked it at the charging idiot with enough force for the bag to burst open on contact, showering the criminal's face with chips. Distracted by the impromptu projectile, the masked thief had no time to dodge the fist aimed for his stomach.

Racked by pain from the punch to his belly, the criminal was helpless to stop Choetsu from spinning around to his other side, bending down, and forming a tiger seal with his fingers. From the counter, the store clerk watched in bewilderment as her unlikely savior shoved his outstretched fingers up the thief's rear-end while screaming, "_One Thousand Years of Death_!"

Nothing happened for a short second, but then suddenly, the thief went flying in a comedic manner while holding his rectum before crashing his head into a wall with enough force to knock him unconscious.

Proud of his handiwork, Choetsu turned around and walked up to the store clerk, who still had her hands held up with a gaping expression on her cute face. From his coat, he procured the top ramen cup and the packet of cinnamon buns which he had been eying earlier before setting them on the counter.

"Sorry about that; I'll pay for those potato chips if you want me to," said Choetsu in a deadpan manner before gesturing to the two items he had placed on the counter, "Oh, and it was a real pain in the ass deciding which one of these to get so I just decided to buy both."

The woman was too speechless to reply, so Choetsu simply placed a few Ryo on the counter saying, "Just keep the change," before walking away with the ramen and cinnamon buns.

Before he could leave however, the store clerk managed to find her voice and called out to him, "W-Wait! Umm-…"

"Name's Choetsu, gorgeous."

"C-Choetsu-san," said the clerk while blushing from his compliment, "Thank you so very much. I…how can I possibly repay you."

Choetsu smirked before eying the woman's buxom chest, "Oh, I have a few ideas."

The attractive brunette reddened further upon catching his gaze before replying, "O-okay…how about my place, tonight? I assume you want my address?"

"Oh no; don't worry, I'll find it myself," stated Choetsu before vanishing in a yellow flash, causing the woman to faint in shock.

* * *

><p>"You're late, Choetsu!"<p>

"My bad, my bad, Sasori-chan; a funny thing happened on the way here."

"Uh huh? Well, I don't really care; you're the one who wanted to call this meeting in the first place. But seriously…_Hoshikuzu_, that's what you want to call us; what kind of name for a secret organization is that."

"Hey, it matches the cloaks!"

"Personally, I would have wanted red clouds on our cloaks instead, but it's a trivial thing, really."

"See! Even Nagato-chan agrees with me, which is definitely a first."

"It must be the apocalypse."

"Oh very funny, Konan-chan."

"Where did you get that top ramen from anyways?"

"I bought it."

"You actually buy things…can't you just make shit out of thin air?"

"Yes, yes I can puppet boy."

"Then why-…"

"Cuz I felt like it."

"Of course."

"Hey, in my defense, I ended up getting myself a date with a ridiculously hot girl later on tonight. In fact, we're probably going to have sex."

"Really?"

"Really."

The End

A.N. Well, that's the end of Chapter 16 and my first omake! Hope you guys enjoyed. If anyone thought Kakuzu was convinced to leave too easily, well, just remember that he's doing all of this for a profit. There would be no reason for him to continue if he couldn't ensure that his bounty was guaranteed. But don't worry; like he said, Kakuzu will be back, and the next fight with him will be longer and more detailed.

For the record, Haku's real gender in this fic STILL hasn't been revealed as of yet. You guys won't find out whether he/she's a boy or girl until next chapter. But it won't be what your expecting.

As for the omake, well, it's kind of based on a similar one-shot called "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer", from the Captain America: The First Avenger dvd. You see; I've had the Avengers movie on the brain since I saw it last week, and I couldn't resist putting a bunch of references to that film in this chapter. I'll give another "cookie" to anyone who can spot these references, hehe.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed, and please review and give me your opinions!


	18. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...or do I? Sus...pic...ious (in Blu's voice from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends)

Author's Note: I just wanted to clarify something from last chapter that was brought to my attention in a review. Some of you may have thought that Kakuzu was tricked too easily by Kakashi's genjutsu, but just remember; this is the same dude who got owned by Naruto's shadow clone feint. That may have been plot no jutsu, but it still happened in canon, and it shows that Kakuzu is not above being deceived. I'm just saying...

Anyways, without further adeu...

Chapter 17: Tree Climbing, Stardust, and a Drastic Change

"Isn't this nice?" sighed Namikaze Kushina as she lazed on a white sand beach wearing nothing but a skimpy, two-piece, yellow bathing suit. Lying next to the redhead was her blonde husband, the Fourth Hokage. He had on red swimming trunks and a plain white tee.

The married couple was currently tanning on Minato's favorite, abandoned tropical island; the same island that he had placed a _Hiraishin_ kunai on so he could travel in between it and Konoha in an instant.

"Now you know why I like to sneak my way here every so often," said Minato before turning on his side and giving his wife a playful tickle to her bare side, eliciting a brief giggling fit, "This island is paradise."

"Yeah, it is. But I wonder," continued Kushina, "What exactly do you do here when you're alone?"

"Oh, I swim, relax…practice jutsus with effective blast radii too large to be used in Konoha; stuff like that," replied Minato nonchalantly.

"Well, whatever it is you do, it can't be anymore fun then what we could do here together."

Minato smirked, "You got any ideas?"

Kushina smirked back before turning on her side towards Minato. She cupped his cheek softly before giving him a sultry look, "Well, it's just the two of us here. We're all alone. Together. In our bathing suits. I'm sure we can think of plenty of things to do."

"Let's start brainstorming then," said Minato huskily while Kushina rubbed circles into his chest with her finger.

"Ready when you are, Mi…na…to," whispered Kushina seductively before she pulled her husband into a passionate kiss. The kiss lasted a few seconds before the couple broke apart due to a lack of oxygen. After the kiss ended, the blonde haired Namikaze suddenly adopted a look of bewilderment on his face, as if he was trying to remember something important, but couldn't.

"What's wrong, dear?"

"It's strange but…I feel like I'm forgetting something…"

* * *

><p>"Hello everyone; my name is Nara Shikaku and my wife Yoshino constantly nags me about every single aspect of my life."<p>

"Hi, Shikaku!"

"Hello everyone; I'm Tsume's husband and I left my wife because she, to put it bluntly, scares the fucking crap out of me!

"Hi, Tsume's husband!"

"Hello everyone; my name is Yamanaka Inoichi, and I have a perfectly loving and equal relationship with my wife," said the blonde mind-walker, eliciting glares from the other two men, "I will be the leader in today's group therapy session for submissive husbands and…wait; where's Minato?"

* * *

><p>"Nah!" buzzed Minato, dismissing his brief feelings of forgetfulness before pulling his wife into another kiss.<p>

It was about damn time that hated yellow bikini had come off, anyways.

* * *

><p><em>Naruto smirked, "True power, huh. Well, just let me know if "true power" wants his ass kicked or something."<em>

_"Hmph; that's enough! Hijutsu: Makyo Hyos-…"_

"STOP!" exclaimed a voice from behind Haku, startling him in the middle of his half-seal sequence, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Halting his jutsu for a second, the long-haired shinobi disengaged himself from Naruto before turning around. He discovered, to his utter distress, that the voice that had called for him to stop belonged to none other than Hatake Kakashi, who had his master Zabuza held at knife point in front of him. The runaway swordsman seemed to have been bound with tight ropes around his body and what looked like a chakra suppression seal stuck to his chest.

"If you make another move against my students or Tazuna-san," continued Kakashi threateningly, "I will slit your master's throat on the spot. So, if you care about him at all, drop your weapons and step away from the blonde, ASAP."

Haku hesitated before glancing at the bound Momochi, who returned his gaze with a few words, "Please, Haku…it's no use. They've already won."

Haku nodded before dropping his senbon to the ground and putting his hands up in the universal gesture of surrender.

"Good move," said Kakashi before laying his prisoner down and flickering to Naruto's side of the engagement. Seeing his master no longer in the Copy-nin's grasps, Haku ran to his side and lifted the defeated man up on his shoulders.

"My apologize, Zabuza-sama," whispered Haku somberly, "but it seems that we've lost this battle. But don't worry; there will be many more opportunities for us to kill the bridge builder in the future and collect Gatou's reward money."

"That's a nice sentiment, Haku, but unfortunately for you…_I'm not Zabuza_!" hissed the impostor before his figure burst in a brief cloud of smoke, revealing him to actually be a transformed shadow clone of Kakashi.

Haku gasped involuntarily before being forced to dodge a horizontal slash from the _kage bunshin's _kunai. In retaliation, Haku created a blade of ice in his hand and stabbed the Kakashi clone in the stomach with it, eliciting a choke of pain from the doppelganger. Before the bunshin dispelled, however, the exploding tag on his chest that had been previously disguised as a suppression seal detonated, resulting in a medium size explosion which engulfed the unlucky senbon-wielder.

Seeing the explosion, Team 7 gave a resounding cheer in unison, as they were all relieved that the highly-skilled _Hyouton_-user they had been fighting was now finished. They were so elated that even Naruto, normally a very analytical individual like his father, failed to consider the fact that Haku could have still been alive.

But Kakakshi remained suspicious and alert. In order to conserve the very little remaining chakra he had after such a long battle and a couple taken soldier pills, Kakashi covered his Sharingan eye with his head band once again before turning to his students.

"Excellent work, you three; you were able to hold off the enemy and protect our client while I was held up fighting Zabuza. I'm really proud of all of you guys, but especially you, Naruto," praised the jonin-sensei, causing Naruto to beam and Sasuke to grumble.

"As for you, Tazuna-san," continued Kakashi with an exhausted look, "you can come out now. I've handled Zabuza myself and his accomplice, even if he was still alive, wouldn't pose much of a challenge to us on his own while I'm here."

The bridge builder, who had been hiding behind some bushes while the fighting was going on, cautiously crawled out of his hiding spot before walking up to his bodyguards with a big grin on his face.

"Hahaha, super thanks, guys; that was seriously super amazing!" chuckled Tazuna in mirth, "Now come over to my house and you guys can relax after such a long fight!"

"Thank you, Tazuna-san, but I'm afraid that we're not done yet. I still…need…to check…if…that boy…is-…" stuttered Kakashi breathlessly before trailing off and collapsing bonelessly to the ground with a plop.

"Huh? What happened?"

"Ka-Kakashi-sensei! Are you alright!"

'_My body…it can't move…I overused the Sharingan again_.'

* * *

><p>Unfortunately for Team 7, Kakashi's suspicion about Haku's continued survival was correct. During the explosion, the agile masked teenager had been able to slip away at the last second, escaping with nothing but a singe to his clothing and a couple burns. After jumping away, Haku landed in the lake and hid there for a moment.<p>

The Ice-user decided that he would look for his master Zabuza in order to determine if he was dead or alive. Moving stealthily through the water, Haku explored the lake in search of his precious person before finally coming upon the swordsman, washed up on the opposite shore.

To his horror, Haku found Zabuza with a bleeding wound where his heart was and signs of electrocution all over his body. Checking his pulse revealed that the Demon of the Mist was still alive, but dying from his injuries.

Zabuza's apprentice had extensive knowledge of anatomy, but he was no medic-nin; if he wanted to heal his sensei's wounds and save his life, he would need to get some extensive first aid equipment. But it could be done.

So, with a look of simultaneous worry and determination beneath his mask, Haku took hold of the unconscious body and flickered out of sight with _Shunshin no Jutsu_.

* * *

><p>Konan loved the cloaks.<p>

Their design was absolutely wonderful; just beautiful in every way. It was hard to believe that they belonged to an organization consisting entirely of S-Rank shinobi. But it was fitting in a way.

Each cloak was as black as a void, with a very high collar and long, billowing sleeves. The inside was a silvery hue that contrasted against the outer darkness, but what really stuck out was the pattern on the outside. Nagato wanted there to be red clouds painted over the cloak; an idea which Konan supported at first. But when she saw Choetsu's design, well, it was love at first sight.

Patterned over the cloak's black fabric were fields of milky, white stars, intricate constellations, and spiraling, silver-sapphire galaxies, making the cloak look like it was created from a piece of the night sky itself. An even better description would be taking the entire macrocosmic universe, weaving it into some sort of celestial fabric, and then compressing that fabric into the existence of a single, human-sized cloak. Either way, it definitely matched the new organization's name of _Hoshikuzu_.

What was Hoshikuzu; well, not even Konan knew, and she was going to be a member. But apparently, the _Rikudou Hiraishin_ would discuss Hoshikuzu's purpose and mission during the current meeting, which had started off on rather odd topics, by the way.

"Please, Choetsu," pleaded Akasuna no Sasori in annoyance, "stop ranting about how "hot" and "sexy" this girl you met at a convenience store was. For a godlike being, you're completely insufferable. I would kill you if I could."

Choetsu gave an amused "tsk-tsk" sound while wagging his finger at the puppet muster, "Now, now, Sasori-chan; you shouldn't lie to me. I know for a fact that you wouldn't kill me, even if you had the power to do so. You would be absolutely bored and lonely without my constant, welcomed presence in your life, and ultimately, the universe would be a much darker place without my existence in it. So no, I don't think you would kill me."

"Wanna bet," muttered Sasori darkly.

"Calm down, Sasori-san," said Nagato, "It's no use letting him get on your nerves. Just do what I do; ignore him. I think it's safe to say that I've mastered that particular art."

"Oh, is that right, Volcano-san?" said the sole blonde sarcastically.

"V-Volcano-san…I don't underst-…"

"It refers to the fact that, like a volcano, you have a tendency to erupt at the most inconvenient of times, and it always ends in disaster. I think poor Konan-chan knows exactly what I'm talking about," explained Choetsu. Konan blushed immensely at the hidden meaning of his words.

"I'M GONNA FUCKING MURDER YOU, ASSHOLE!" Apparently, Nagato had caught on as well.

Konan sighed; this was going to be a long meeting.

* * *

><p>Jumping from branch to branch gracefully, Itachi hopped through the forest at blistering speeds in concern over his mission's time constraints. According to the Sannin Jiraiya, Danzo and his ROOT agents were scheduled to relocate to a new hideout pretty soon, so the ANBU Commander needed to complete his mission before then.<p>

But first he had to reach the rendezvous point, where an informant of the Leaf would hand him all of the details he needed to know about his mission. Then from there he would proceed to the Land Of Rice Paddies, where Danzo's location had been pinpointed by the Toad Sage's spy network.

Thoughts of home, of family, of Sasuke and Hana, all coursed through his mind, but the talented shinobi didn't let them distract him. Itachi was on business. He liked to call it "mission mode". All of his attention was either focused on the present environment, or on making plans for the rest of the mission.

When he finally reached the designated rendezvous point, Itachi drew a blank. There was nothing there!

It was just an empty clearing; a rather unassuming place for a rendezvous, with a few leafy piles strewn about, a withered old tree stump in the middle, a weird looking orange toad, a couple shrubs, and a-…wait; what was an orange toad doing here. They weren't native to this part of the world.

There was only one possible explanation.

"I'm guessing this means you're my informant, _Jiraiya-sama_," said Itachi out loud while glancing tentatively at the exotic amphibian. When nothing happened for a moment, Itachi was almost convinced that he had been crazily talking to an ordinary, orange-skinned toad that had some how ended up a thousand miles away from the Land of Rainforests, and that the informant was just late and was not the legendary sensei of the Yondaime hiding inside a summoned animal. Almost.

Just as the Uchiha was about to leave, the toad's cheeks puffed up to full capacity before its mouth burst open, allowing what looked like a hand to emerge from it. Following the hand was an arm, then a man's shoulder, and then the man's head. Next was the man's neck, then his chest, and all the way down until finally, the man's foot emerged from the toad's mouth.

Now, standing in front of Itachi was a tall, mountain of a man with spiky, waist-length, white hair, a short green kimono over a plain mesh shirt, matching pants, a red cloak around his body with two yellow circles, and wooden sandals. He had red lines running down his face from his eyes, a noticeable wart on his nose, and a _hitae-ate_ with the kanji for "Oil" on his forehead.

"The answer to your question is yes, kid," said the Toad Sage with a grin, "I, the great and gallant Jiraiya, will be your informant. And you must be the famous Uchiha Itachi, my apprentice's apprentice. ANBU Commander at 17, huh; I'm impressed. Even Minato wasn't that talented at your age."

"Thank you for your praise, Jiraiya-sama, but I'm afraid that we need to move on. This mission is on a strict time table," replied the raven-haired teen with a professional tone.

"Yeah, yeah; you ANBU types never seem to have any time for small talk these days," grumbled the Sannin, "Here's your scroll. It's got all the juicy details in it, and for once I don't mean "that" kind of juicy either."

The super pervert handed him a rolled-up scroll with the kanji for secret on it. Taking it, the Sharingan-user thanked his informant before hiding the scroll in his ANBU cloak.

Before Itachi could leave, Jiraiya called out to him, "Before you go, tell me; how's my former student doing back in Konoha?"

"You mean Minato-sensei; he's-…"

"No, not him…my _other _student."

"Oh…she's doing great."

"Good. That's what I like to hear."

"If that's all, Jiraiya-sama, I'll be going now."

"Of course, of course; I don't wanna hold you up or anything."

And with that, Itachi was gone in a flicker of black.

* * *

><p>"Are you feeling alright, Kakashi-san?" asked Tsunami, Tazuna's twenty-nine year-old daughter. She was a woman with long, raven hair down to her upper back, wearing a thick pink shirt with black edges and a long black skirt. Her facial expression was one of concern while her hands rested on her hips in a very womanly fashion.<p>

The man she had addressed was Team 7's silver-haired sensei, Kakashi. The jonin had just woken up from a chakra exhaustion-induced slumber after his battle with Zabuza and Kakuzu, and despite his rest was feeling exceedingly lethargic. The scarecrow highly appreciated the soft futon he had slept on, and quickly ascertained that he was currently in his client's abode.

"Yeah, somehow," replied the Hatake, answering Tsunami's question, "But I won't be able to move much for a weak."

"Woah! That long…" exclaimed Kurama, who had been waiting at her sensei's bedside with her two teammates, "…the Sharingan is amazing but it must put a lot of stress on you. I guess you have to think twice before using it."

"Hey, look on the bright side," said Tazuna, the bridge builder, "We defeated that super strong ninja, Zabuza, and that friend of his too! We should be good for awhile."

"That masked kid who helped Zabuza was weird," said Naruto, joining the conversation, "He had weird techniques that allowed him to create and control ice. It was pretty freaky. And he was almost as fast as me, to boot."

Kakashi's one visible eye widened in astonishment, "D-did…did you just say he can control ice? As in, Ice Release _ninjutsu_?"

"Umm, yeah…"

"T-that's impossible; the ability to use Hyouton is a _Kekkei Genkai_ belonging only to the members of an extinct family from Kiri called the Yuki clan. For this kid to posses it…"

"So he had a bloodline," whispered Sasuke, "That explains why he's so powerful, even though he looks to be our age."

'_If only I could activate my Sharingan, then I could be as strong as that guy and surpass Naruto_…'

"And then there's that creepy face mask of his," added Kurama with a shiver, "I know it was probably the intended effect, but did he really have to make his mask so…demoralizing."

"Well, that mask _is_ the same exact design as those used by the Hidden Mist's hunter-nin squad," explained Kakashi, "They're also known as "body erasers", because their duty is to capture missing-nin and dispose of their bodies completely."

"Why would they do that?"

"Hidden within the body of a shinobi are the secrets of his or her village; techniques, bloodlines, chakra types, medicine, and a whole sleuth of other important things. For example, if I was to die and an enemy managed to take my corpse, then they could steal the secrets of the Sharingan. Or in other words; if you aren't cautious, the enemy could use your very own techniques against you."

"So by killing and disposing of the bodies of missing-nin who have abandoned their village," continued Kakashi, "the Hunter-nin safeguard the secrets of their village. This is their specialty.

"So if hunter-nin eliminate missin-nin, how come that kid was helping Zabuza?" asked Naruto.

"My guess is that he was probably just wearing a stolen mask so he could pass himself off as a hunter-nin in situations where that would be useful," said the Leaf jonin.

"Well, either way; that guy was seriously dangerous. I'm glad he's dead…"

* * *

><p>When Zabuza came to, there was an excruciatingly painful sensation in his chest area, and feelings of numbness in other parts of his body. He couldn't move, and it hurt to breathe. There were familiar hands tending to his wounds, and when he opened his eyes, he found the owner of those hands.<p>

"H-Haku…is that you?" choked Zabuza painfully.

Looking up from the swordsman's glaring chest wound, the masked teenager replied, "Oh, looks like you're awake, Zabuza-sama. I'm glad. I'm sorry I couldn't…I couldn't stop the enemy from damaging your beautiful body. What happened out there? When we were separated…"

"When I was fighting Kakashi, we got ambushed by some S-Rank freak-show named Kakuzu. He was…an abomination, to put it lightly. And that's coming from the Demon of the Mist," explained Zabuza, "Kakashi and I teamed up to fight him, but he still beat us. We only managed to get him to retreat when the monkey bastard tricked him with an illusion of his."

"Is that how you got that wound? The one on your chest."

"No; Kakashi gave that to me. After Kakuzu left, I tried to kill Kakashi with a surprise attack, but he evaded it and stabbed me in the chest with that signature original jutsu of his…the famous Lighting Cutter. I only survived because I had put up a water wall in time."

"I see; but wouldn't a water wall make the damage from a _Raiton_ even worse? Water conducts electricity after all," argued Haku while continuing to tend to Zabuza's grieving chest injury. There was still a lot of blood dripping from the former Kiri-nin's chest.

"That's usually *cough* the case, but it's a different situation for the _Raikiri_," answered the swordsman while his apprentice cleaned the blood, "That technique relies more on the velocity of its thrust than the amount of chakra in it. So when I used _Suijinheki_, it amplified the lightning chakra from the attack but it also slowed Kakashi's momentum going forward, reducing the overall lethality of the jutsu. But…"

"…as a result, you ended up getting hit by a powerful electric current, which was conducted by all the water around you. And that knocked you out," said Haku, finishing Zabuza's statement for him.

"Exactly."

After that, a stifling silence crept in as Haku finished up tending to Zabuza's wound. With expert quickness, the Ice-user wrapped thick bandages around his master's entire chest area. When he was finally done, the androgynous boy removed his fake hunter-nin mask before giving the wounded swordsman a loving smile.

"You're very lucky, Zabuza-sama, that I managed to find your body and get you back here as quickly as I did," said Haku, "You would have died of your injuries if left alone."

Haku's words finally got Zabuza to take note of his surroundings. Apparently, the fake hunter-nin had brought them back to the hideout Gatou was allowing them to stay in during the duration of their mission.

"Thanks Haku, for saving my life," said Zabuza with genuine gratitude, "But thank you especially for giving me another shot at taking down that bastard Copy-nin."

"You're still planning on killing Kakashi-san? Will you…be alright, next time?"

"I have no choice. But don't worry; next time…I will defeat the Sharingan."

* * *

><p><em>"I'm glad he's dead…"<em>

"Umm, you guys remembered to check if he's actually dead, right?" inquired Kakashi nervously, "After I collapsed. Right?"

His three genin students looked at him blankly first before guilt bloomed on their faces.

"I'll take that as a no then…"

"We're so sorry, Kakashi-sensei!"

"We…we forgot; what with you collapsing on us and old man Tazuna having a panic attack! We just didn't have time to think about anything but getting you checked, so afterwards we immediately rushed to Tazuna's house!" explained Naruto frantically.

"Well, I guess I can't fault you three; I was the one who taught you that a comrade's life is more important than the success of a mission, after all. But just be warned…there's a possibility that the masked guy you fought is still alive."

"Are you sure?" question Sasuke, eyes narrowed in doubt, "Your clone caught him in a pretty big explosion. How could he escape that?"

"Well, if he was as fast as Naruto described him to be, then it should have been a piece of cake," replied Kakashi, "Even worse; there's also a possibility that Zabuza is still alive. I managed to hit him with my original assassination technique, the Raikiri, but he blunted the piercing damage with a defensive _Suiton_. That let him survive even though he was still knocked unconscious by the electric discharge. I left his body at the lake shore when I went to rescue you guys, but if that fake hunter-nin survived…he might have collected his wounded partner and taken him somewhere to get treatment."

"Hmph; sounds like a real pain in the ass," grumbled Naruto with his arms crossed, "So, what do we do now, _anik_-…I mean, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi gave him a brief eye smile before replying…

"We get ready."

* * *

><p>"Minato, where are you?" called out Kushina as she searched around for her blonde husband. The Hokage had wandered off earlier; telling her that he was just going to look around and explore the island a bit, but now it had been a few hours already and he still had yet to return. Kushina had become worried and went to look for him in the jungle.<p>

It was her first time on the island and despite her strong will and fiery attitude, even Kushina had to admit that she was a little daunted by the mysterious atmosphere that pervaded everywhere as she got closer and closer to the isle's center.

Pretty soon it would be sunset in the part of the world they were in, and Kushina wasn't enthused by the possibility of being stuck here alone during the night, so the former _jinchuuriki_ searched diligently for her wayward husband. She was still dressed in the same bikini she had on earlier, but now she was wearing an oversized white V-neck over her top.

"That damn husband of mine. We were having so much "fun" earlier on the beach, but then he had to go along and wander off on his own," vented Kushina, "And to do what; explore the jungle like some five-year old pretending to be on an adventure. I swear, when I get my hands on him I'm gonna-…"

"You're gonna what?" said a voice from behind Kushina, startling her immensely. Turning around, the mother of two found her significant other standing atop a tree branch with a smug expression on his face. He was no longer dressed in his swimming trunks and white tee, instead opting for the blue long-sleeved turtleneck and matching pants he usually wore in casual settings.

"Oh M-Minato, it's just you. Geez, you seriously scared the hell out of me!" rebuffed the Bloody Red Habanero, "And where the hell have you been? I've been working my ass of trying to find you, _dattebane_!"

Minato's brow rose in amusement, "Woah; haven't heard that word from you in awhile. Someone's sure worked up."

"Damn straight I'm worked up! You were gone for hours!"

"S-Sorry, dear; about the scare and about wandering off for such a long time, that is. But if you let me, I can explain why I've been gone for so long."

"Be my guest, darling husband; but it better be a good explanation."

"Oh, don't worry. I think you'll find what I'm about to show you very interesting," said Minato before jumping down from the tree branch and landing in front of his wife. The Yellow Flash rummaged in his pocket for a moment before taking out a small, ancient-looking scroll. With a smile, Minato handed the scroll to his wife, who received it hesitantly.

"What's this?" asked Kushina as she held the old scroll in her hands with a puzzled expression.

"I found that while I was exploring the island. It was in a damp cave actually, but that's beside's the point," explained Minato, causing Kushina to give him a weird look.

"Why were you snooping around in some random cave?"

"Well, I've actually been finding stuff like this on the island for quite some time," continued Minato, "Remember that chest full of rare sake I had that dated back to the Shodai's time?"

"The same one that you used to convince Tsunade to return to the village just long enough to find a cure for Itachi-kun's disease. That was about two or three years ago, wasn't it?"

"The very same, yes; I found that one here on this island, buried under a ton of sand. It was pure, dumb luck that I came across it, to be honest."

"So, this must be your new find then, oh great treasure hunter," teased Kushina playfully, "But what is it, exactly?"

"This scroll," began Minato again while gesturing to the object in his spouse's possession, "was actually written by a man named Uchiha Kagami. He was a peer of Sarutobi-sama and he fought in the First World War before dying in the Second. He was also one of the select few Uchiha in history to ever unlock the Mangekyo Sharingan. The interesting thing is that he wrote that scroll you're holding just before his death."

"What did he put in it?"

"Well, apparently; in the last few weeks of his life, Kagami-san found an ancient stone tablet, similar to the one at the Uchiha shrine in Konoha. It was even written by the same individual; the _Rikudou Sennin_, the originator of ninjutsu. Like the Uchiha's stone tablet, the tablet could only be read by _dojutsu_-users, like Kagami. But even he, with his Mangekyo, could only make out a small portion of the tablet. Everything he was able to read was copied down on to that scroll. And that's all I'll tell you right now. You should go on and open the scroll if you want to find out the rest."

"Hmm, okay. I will," stated Kushina as she unraveled the scroll. As she started reading the content within, her facial expression shifted from boredom, to mild curiosity, to definite interest, and finally, to raw and utter astonishment.

"T-This scroll…it's…it's all about sealing!" exclaimed Kushina while looking up from the scroll, "And not just you're basic _fuinjutsu_ either. This is all crazy, theoretical stuff that I've never even heard of before; stuff that even my mother probably had never dreamt of in her life, and she was a genius sealing master amongst a clan of genius sealing masters. The stuff in the scroll…it's completely out of this world, _dattebane_!"

"I know! Just imagine for a moment, Kushina; one seal…one seal that can do _anything_."

* * *

><p>Naruto stared at the water balloon on the verge of bursting in his hands, while he reflected on everything that had happened in the past few days. After Kakashi had woken up and explained to them that Zabuza and that mysterious, masked kid could still be alive, the jonin had put them through something called tree climbing. It was a chakra control exercise in which they would have to run up a tree using chakra to stick their feet to the bark. Theoretically, if one mastered this exercise, they could learn almost any jutsu.<p>

As usual, Naruto got the hang of the exercise at an astounding pace, managing to climb all the way up one of the tallest trees in the woods after only a few tries. Kakashi attributed this to having both excellent chakra control and impressive reserves for a genin. His two teammates were, however, not so lucky.

Although his sister Kurama had even larger chakra reserves than him, her control, although decent, was not enough to breeze through the tree climbing exercise. And hapless Sasuke had neither Naruto's control nor Kurama's massive stamina and chakra pools. Both the raven-haired boy and the redhead were still stuck trying to master tree climbing, and had been at it vigorously for the better part of the day.

Naruto, on the other hand, was sent to guard Tazuna by himself after mastering tree climbing. While he was with the old bridge builder, the blonde haired boy accompanied his client into the village itself where he was able to witness first hand the poverty and corruption plaguing the impoverished Land of Waves; a sight that sickened Naruto to the core. Someone needed to put an end to all of this; Tazuna's bridge needed to be completed. The villagers needed hope.

When they had gotten back to the house, Kakashi greeted them and told Naruto that he would be continuing with his ninjutsu training. The conversation went a little like this…

Flashback:

_"So, Naruto; now that you've mastered tree climbing in record time," began the still bedridden Copy-nin, "I think it's time that you move on to other things."_

_Naruto blinked at his sensei in curiosity before replying, "Like what? Are you going to teach me some new techniques? That'll be sweet!"_

_"Yes, I'll show you some new jutsu that you can learn," answered Kakashi, causing the blonde to cheer exuberantly, "But that's not all you'll be doing. I'm going to be working on your taijutsu as well, and fixing some flaws with the techniques you already know."_

_"What do you mean "flaws with the techniques you already know"? Am I doing something wrong?"_

_"I'm talking about that Rasengan of yours. It's amazing that you managed to learn it at such a young age, especially since it took your father three years to create," said Kakashi, causing Naruto to beam at his praise, "But you still haven't totally mastered it. You need two hands just to form and stabilize one Rasengan, which is a liability in some situations. If, for example, one hand is occupied, then you won't be able to use Rasengan; at least not at its full power. Also, when you get more advanced with it, you'll be able to form two Rasengans in both hands, something you won't be able to do if you rely on both hands for just one."_

_"So you're going to teach me how to do a one-handed Rasengan," clarified Naruto._

_"Precisely."_

Flashback End

So that's how Naruto ended up in the forest, practicing the third stage of Rasengan training with him only being allowed to use one hand. Despite his talent, Naruto struggled to prevent the water balloon from popping without having to resort to another hand.

Up above, Hatake Kakashi was watching him like a hawk; looking out for any errors. Apparently, the Copy-nin had also learned Rasengan from his sensei, Naruto's father, but didn't use it all that often in actual combat.

Other than Rasengan, Kakashi had also given him a jutsu scroll containing numerous Wind Release techniques. So far, the twelve-year old Namikaze had managed to learn three new _Fuutons_, further enhancing his long-range offense.

'_But Kakashi didn't just work on my ninjutsu, did he_,' thought Naruto as his attention shifted to the heavy training weights wrapped around his arms and legs. Weighted accessories were, according to Kakashi, an old fashion training method that only a friend of his used nowadays. But for the heavily speed-oriented Naruto, Kakashi felt that training weights would be the best approach to improving Naruto's already blistering quickness and agility.

And finally, there was that original technique that his surrogate brother had helped him develop; a technique that Naruto liked to refer to as "the practical, battlefield application of tree climbing put to offensive use". It wasn't particularly an awe-inspiringly powerful move like the Rasengan, but Naruto had a feeling it would prove useful in the future.

Back to the present, however, as Naruto watched the balloon in his hand burst in a splash of water for the umpteenth time. Seeing his labor proved fruitless once again, Naruto gave a frustrated groan. His inability to master the Rasengan one-handed was starting to really annoy him.

Before the Hokage's son could dwell on his failure any longer, a voice called out to him from above, "That's enough Naruto; I think you should take a break now. It's almost dinner time and Sasuke and Kurama should also be returning from their tree climbing exercise."

Reluctantly, the blonde speedster gave his sensei a nod, spurred on by the empty feeling in his stomach.

* * *

><p>"Wow, this is super awesome!" cheered Tazuna at the dinner table, "It's been a long time since we ate with so many people!"<p>

Currently, Team 7 and their client's family were all arranged around the simple dining table in their kitchen, feasting on Tsunami's home cooking. While Naruto was eating his food with gusto as usual; for once, his consumption rate could not be compared to that of his two teammates. Both Sasuke and Kurama were stuffing themselves at a sickening pace, until the point where the two genin ended up hurling chunks of vomit on to the floor, to Tsunami's disdain.

Despite their upchucking, the raven and the redhead continued to ask for more and more food, which just led to more and more throwing up.

Unable to take it any longer, Naruto slammed his hands on the table and shouted, "If you two are just going to keep throwing up, then stop eating and wasting the food, damn it!"

In response, the younger Uchiha heir glared at Naruto with his piercing onxy-eyes before replying, "No; I have to keep eating. I need to get stronger!"

"For once I agree with the prick, Nii-chan, and I can't let him get ahead of me! I need to get stronger too!" declared Kurama before continuing to wolf down on her food, while occasionally glaring daggers at the Uchiha across from her. Sasuke promptly ignored her glares while focusing on his own plate.

"Hmm; although I appreciate the effort you two are putting into becoming stronger," interjected Kakashi, "that doesn't mean you two need to throw up like that."

Naruto sighed while giving a silent prayer for all that wasted food. Seriously; the number of poor Wave orphans who could have been fed by all that food Sasuke and Kurama had vomited was mind-boggling.

So caught up in his teammates' antics was Naruto that he didn't notice the presence of the short 8-year old grandson of Tazuna until now. His name was Inari, and he wore a blue and white striped fisherman's hat on his blackish-brown hair. He also wore a dark green outfit with straps over a yellow shirt.

The kid had butted in when they were discussing preparations for Zabuza's return, shortly after Kakashi had first woken up. Then he started spouting crap about how they were all going to die and how nobody could stand up to Gatou. It pissed the hell out of Naruto; he understood that life could be hard sometimes, but to be downright pessimistic about stuff like that was just not okay in his book.

While watching the gloomy child eat, Naruto couldn't help but notice him glancing at a picture on the wall every now and then. Turning his attention to the photo itself, the blonde found that it was a picture of Tazuna, Tsunami, and a younger, much-happier looking Inari. But the odd thing was that the entire upper-right section of the photo had been ripped out.

Getting up, Naruto walked to it and examined the image closer before speaking, "Hey, why do you guys have a torn picture on the wall. Inari was staring at it while eating, so I couldn't help but wonder about it."

The blonde's words seemed to strike a chord in the hearts of the bridge builder's family, as Tazuna, Tsunami, and Inari all gasped in shock. Naruto was starting to regret mentioning the picture at all.

There was an awkward silence before Tsunami finally spoke up, "It's…it's a picture of my husband…"

"And the hero of this country," added her father. After Tazuna had said those words, Inari suddenly got up from his seat and ran away, not even looking up once. When he reached the door, he opened it before slipping in to the next room and slamming the door behind him.

"Father! I told you not to talk about that man in front of Inari! You know how he gets!" rebuked Tsunami.

"W-what's wrong with Inari-kun,'" inquired Kurama.

Tazuna answered her question with an explanation, "Well, you see; Inari had a father not related to him by blood. They were very close, as if they were really father and son. Inari was much happier in those days, and would laugh and smile a lot more."

"But," continued the bridge builder, "Inari has changed…since a certain incident with his father."

* * *

><p>"So even you came back defeated, huh?" taunted Gatou as he walked into Zabuza's bedroom flanked by his two <em>ronin<em> bodyguards, Zouri and Waraji, "Looks like ninja from the Hidden Mist aren't as strong as they claim."

The demon swordsman himself was still bedridden, recuperating from his injuries at the hands of Kakashi's Raikiri. At his bedside was Haku, with his mask removed. Turning his head, the Ice-user glared at the corrupt businessman who had walked in.

"You can't even avenge your men. And you call yourself a demon," continued the diminutive tycoon mockingly, "Don't make me laugh!"

Zabuza refrained from replying to his employer's words, annoying Gatou with his silence. Haku watched cautiously as the two samurai bodyguards approached Zabuza's bed with their hands resting on their blades.

'_Are they…planning to attack_?'

"Hey you, Zabuza!" Stop giving me the silent treatment, will you!" snapped Gatou as his hand started reaching out for the recovering missing-nin. Suddenly, in a burst of motion, Haku's hand reached out and grabbed Gatou's outstretched arm viciously. The businessman shrieked in pain as the effeminate male squeezed with an excruciating grip.

"Don't touch Zabuza-sama with your filthy hands," threatened Haku with frigid eyes and a menacing voice. Zouri and Waraji responded to the threat to their client by drawing their blades and swinging them at Haku. They were much too slow, however, and the next thing they knew; Haku was behind them while holding both their blades to their necks.

"No way…he moved in an instant," muttered one of the bodyguards under his breath.

"You should not have done that! I'm pissed off right now!" snarled Haku in cold fury.

Gatou was sweating bullets as he watched the exchange between his bodyguards and Zabuza's apprentice, "T-that's enough! One more time…if you fail one more time, you won't be welcomed here anymore! Don't forget that!"

And with that, the greedy shipping tycoon and his two ronin bodyguards left the room, leaving Haku and Zabuza to their own devices.

"You didn't have to go and do that, Haku," muttered Zabuza weakly while he gripped the kunai he was holding under the bed covers.

"I know…"

"It's still too early to kill Gatou," continued Zabuza, "If we cause another commotion…they'll be after us again."

"Yeah…you're right. We have to be patient," said Haku smiling before he started walking away.

"Where are you going, kid?" questioned Zabuza.

"Oh, don't worry about me, Zabuza-sama. I'm just going to gather some herbs…"

* * *

><p>The story had been a sad one.<p>

It was about a man named Kaiza, who met Inari about three years ago after saving him from drowning. After that, the two hit off famously and Kaiza eventually married Inari's mother Tsunami. Kaiza ended up becoming the father Inari never got to meet, and the hero Wave always needed.

To elaborate more on the hero role that Kaiza took on; about a couple years ago, Kaiza single-handedly prevented a dam from bursting and flooding an entire section of the village, in what many would call a suicidal task. But he survived and succeeded in saving the village, and in doing so, became the Land of Wave's greatest hero and source of hope.

But unfortunately, the good times in Wave were cut short when the megalomaniac entrepreneur Gatou and his Gatou Company arrived in Wave and started ruining the small nation's economy for their own profit. Kaiza attempted to stand up to them and rally the peple of Nami no Kuni behind him, but he was captured by Gatou's men, beaten to the inch of death, had his two arms chopped off, and eventually killed in a brutal public execution which the villagers and most importantly, his young son Inari were forced to watch.

After Kaiza's death, Inari became broken and disillusioned, turning into the gloomy, pessimistic little boy he was now. He lost hope in heroes and believed that anyone who tried to stand up to Gatou would die.

After hearing Tazuna's tale, Naruto started to see the boy in different light. At first, Inari's attitude frustrated Naruto to no end, especially his belief that there was no such thing as heroes anymore. But now, Naruto understood where Tazuna's grandson was coming from; he had an explanation for Inari's crying which he overheard the other day.

But the subject of Inari still grated on him. The boy had given up, no longer facing his problems and just crying about them. It reminded Naruto about himself in a way. Suffocated by the shadow of his father's greatness, Naruto had given up on ever being able to follow in the Yondaime's footsteps, and instead turned to pranking and playing the fool as an outlet.

But those days were long behind him now, thanks to a push. Naruto will forever be grateful to Sasuke for giving him a new goal in life; for reinvigorating the once powerful drive he possessed before Hyuuga Neji had deconstructed it.

Now, Inari needed that same push, and Naruto promised that he would be the one to give it.

"I'm going to prove it," said Naruto while getting up from the dinner table. The rest of the room's occupants looked at him with puzzled looks, while Naruto gave them an indomitable expression in return before turning around.

As he walked away from the dinner table, Naruto declared, "I'm going to prove that, in this world…"

"…heroes do exist!"

* * *

><p>"You all must be wondering in your minds' right now," began Uzumaki Choetsu, "What exactly is Hoshikuzu?"<p>

Looking around the small meeting room in which Nagato, Konan, Sasori, and himself were all seated in; Choetsu waited for a response. The puppet master was the first to give it.

"Oh, I already know what it is," replied Sasori, "It's obviously an incredibly stupid and ridiculous name for a secret organiz-…"

BAM! Before Sasori could complete his statement, a yellow blur crashed into him, knocking his chair down and slamming him into an adjacent wall. When Sasori recovered from disorientation, he discovered to his horror that one extremely, incredibly, hilariously furious and irate Rikudou Hiraishin was glaring at him with eyes burning in rage while holding a kunai to his neck.

He had never seen the normally goofy blonde with such a powerful and menacing expression, and it scared the crap out of him. He had never been this terrified in his entire life; if it weren't for the fact that Sasori was a puppet, he would have just pissed and shit himself all at the same time, with a little vomit thrown in there for good measure.

"Don't you dare!" hissed Choetsu forebodingly, "Don't you dare insult that name again. That name has a history behind it; one that I cherish above all things. If you mock the name of Hoshikuzu even just one more time, I will annihilate you in every single way you fear, and in ways that you could never even dream of. I will send you to your own personal hell, an eternity of torture and suffering, until you're so broken that you will be begging me to end it all. And I will…I will obliterate your very being to such an extent that no universe or timeline in all of creation will even remember or acknowledged that you ever once existed. Do you understand?"

Sasori was completely speechless; he was too busy shivering in absolute terror to reply.

"I'll take that as a yes then," finished Choetsu gravely before teleporting back to his seat, leaving the still shaking puppeteer against the wall. The Suna missing-nin promptly slid down the wall before finding himself in a fetal position on the floor. He had been traumatized, in a way that no one thought possible.

Choetsu, on the other hand, had reverted back to his laid-back expression, making a complete 180˚ in emotion.

"So, now that that little bit of unpleasantness is over…any questions?" prompted Choetsu with a nonchalant expression, as if what just happened was no big deal. Nagato and Konan just stared at him with gaping expressions on their utterly shocked faces.

"No questions? Well then; I was planning to explain to you the purpose and mission of Hoshikuzu today, but it looks like all of you are in no mood for such heavy content. Especially puppet boy over there. I guess it would be a good idea to postpone the meeting until everyone is in a better state of mind," said Choetsu before getting up from his seat.

"W-wait! C-Choetsu-san…if you don't mind; c-could I ask you a question? It has to do with Ho-Hoshikuzu," interjected Konan nervously.

"Sure thing, Konan-chan! As long as you don't plan on mocking it."

"O-of course; I'm not stupid or anything. I just want to know…why are you so sensitive about people insulting Hoshikuzu? And what was that history you were talking about?"

"Oh that; well, it has to do with a certain individual. She was my wife."

"You were married, huh? Wow, that's…that's quite the surprise. I mean…no offense or anything; you just don't seem to be the marrying type."

"None taken, and I agree. The marriage had been a last minute thing to be honest."

"Ah. So where is your wife now?"

"She's dead."

"Oh; I'm…I'm sorry; I didn't know. My condolences for your loss. But…wait; if she's dead, can't you just resurrect her. I mean, even Nagato can bring back the dead under specific circumstances."

"Yeah, I could. But there's one little problem…"

"…I killed her."

Both Konan and Nagato gaped again at his words as silence reigned once more.

"On that rather…depressing note," continued Choetsu after a long, stifling period of speechlessness, "I'll be taking off now. I have an important sex change to attend to."

And with that, the Rikudou Hiraishin was gone in a yellow flash, leaving the three future members of Hoshikuzu behind in bewilderment.

* * *

><p>Hearing the sound of knocking at the door, Shimura Danzo looked up from the scroll he was reading and called out, "Come in; the door's unlocked."<p>

When the door opened, Danzo was greeted by the presence of the Snake Sannin himself, Orochimaru. The traitorous student of the Sandaime walked into the room with a grave expression on his pale face.

"Ah, Orochimaru; it's you. I never took you for someone who knocked," greeted the old war hawk.

"I can be polite if I want to."

"I'm sure. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"I'm going to get straight to the point," said Orochimaru, "You and your ROOT agents need to leave. Immediately."

Danzo's brow rose in curiosity, "Now? But we weren't scheduled to relocate for a few more weeks? What has changed to put you in such a rush?"

"The Leaf knows where you are. My men found a spy of my old teammate Jiraiya, snooping around in the area. We interrogated him, and we discovered that Konoha is sending an elite ANBU to assassinate you," explained Orochimaru, causing Danzo's eyes to widen.

"Damn them! I was hoping they wouldn't catch word of my location so soon," said Danzo angrily through gritted teeth, "We'll leave as soon as possible, then. But what about you?"

"The entire base is going to be evacuated. My Otogakure isn't ready to engage one of the Five Great Shinobi Nations in combat just yet."

"Good, good; when the forces of Konoha arrive…they'll find nothing but an empty hideout…"

* * *

><p>Somewhere in the forest outside of Tazuna's home, one Namikaze Naruto lay sprawled out on the ground, completely unconscious with various birds making their nest on his face and body.<p>

Elsewhere, a certain androgynous Ice-user was walking through the very same forest. Haku was no longer wearing hisbattle garments, but instead had on a light pink kimono with black swirls dotting it. In his hand was a wicker basket containing a few picked plants and herbs.

While he reached down to pick another plant, a robin landed on his left shoulder. Haku smiled at the bird before noticing another presence nearby. Walking towards the presence slowly, Zabuza's apprentice found a blonde boy lying on his back. He was asleep and wearing a black tracksuit with orange stripes and a hood, grey khaki shorts, and a Konoha _hitae-ate_ on his forehead. Drool was leaking from his mouth, and he had three whisker marks on both cheeks.

Haku was about to reach for the blonde when a voice called out to him from behind, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Alarmed, Haku turned around abruptly to find what looked to be an older version of the blonde sleeping on the floor. He had spiky, golden hair with two long sideburns running down both sides of his face, pale, alabaster skin, a black cloak that looked like a picture of the night sky with a high collar that was opened just enough to reveal the man's collarbone and the necklace of _magatama_ he was wearing, and a gold plated forehead protector with white cloth and the kanji for "shinobi" engraved on it.

But the strangest thing about the man were his eyes; ringed pools of concentric sapphire that shone like crystals in the sunlight surrounding a pupil of pure white.

"W-who are you?" questioned Haku while placing his body at full alert. He had no idea if this man was a friend or foe.

"Doesn't matter; I'm in a bad mood, so I'll make this quick," was the cloaked stranger's rude reply.

"W-what are you talking about? Make what quick?"

"I don't give a shit what Masashi Kishimoto says; you're way too damn pretty to be a guy. I'm here to fix that."

Confused, Haku was about to question him on what he meant when the enigmatic figure pointed a single finger at him, and Haku's world was plunged in darkness.

* * *

><p>"You'll catch a cold sleeping in a place like this," said a voice, rousing Haku from unconsciousness as a hand gently shook him awake. When he opened his eyes, the Hyouton user found himself gazing into two cerulean pools which belonged to a grinning boy with spiky, blonde hair.<p>

The first thing that hit Haku upon getting up was feeling of deliriousness and disorientation, like there was something seriously wrong with his body. The next was a feeling of heaviness in his chest, as well as an empty sensation in between his legs. Finally, Haku couldn't remember a single lick of how and why he got here. It was all very strange, but he didn't have time to ponder it any longer when the cute blonde boy asked him if he was alright.

Wait, "cute" blonde boy. Since when had he ever described another male like that? Despite his rather effeminate appearance, Haku had never harbored feelings of attraction for members of the same sex as him. Yet here he was, blushing like a school girl in the proximity of not just a boy, but an enemy at that. This was the same kid who fought him at the lake when his master first tried to kill the bridge builder.

Haku knew this guy was no pushover when it came to ninja combat.

"Wh-who are you?" asked Haku after finally regaining his voice.

* * *

><p>"So is this the plant that you're looking for?" asked Naruto as he handed Haku a bundle of herbs. Haku examined the bundle before smiling and placing them in his basket.<p>

"Yes, that's exactly what I need. Thank you so much for helping out," said Haku in gratitude.

"No problem! It was my pleasure, being able to help out such a beautiful girl like you," said Naruto, laying down the charm. His compliment caused Haku to blush like a tomato, to his immediate disdain. Why was he feeling this way about another guy; could it be that Haku was really a homosexual, but hadn't realized it yet? And if so, why did his feelings pick now to start manifesting?

"But you sure are working early, miss," continued Naruto.

"I'm not the only one. What were you doing here at this time in the morning?" asked Haku in return.

"Oh nothing; just doing some training," answered Naruto nonchalantly.

"Training? And that headband…are you some kind of ninja?"

"Oh, you noticed that? Well, I guess I have to confess then; I am, in fact, a shinobi," Naruto confirmed with a grin.

"Wow, that's great! You're incredible!"

"Hehehe, thanks."

"Why are you training, though?"

"I want to…no; I need to become stronger."

"But you already look pretty strong."

"Yeah, but I can still get stronger; I can still improve myself even more."

"Why is that? Why go to all the effort?"

"So I can surpass and become an even bigger badass than my father!" exclaimed Naruto while pumping his fist enthusiastically, "That way I can live up to my family name! And not only that but…I sort of made a bet with someone, hehe."

"Oh really? But is that for someone else…or is it really for yourself?" inquired Haku cryptically.

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto, causing Haku to start giggling softly, "What's so funny?"

"It's nothing, I was just wondering," said Haku softly after his laughter ended, "Do you…have someone important to you?"

Naruto's eyes widened at the other individual's question, as he began thinking about the people in his life that were precious to him; Kurama, his mom, his dad, Kakashi-nii-san, Iruka-sensei, Ero-sennin, Teuchi and Ayame at Ichiraku Ramen, Hinata-chan, hell, even Sasuke-teme. They were all people he had formed important bonds with, and he considered them all as his loved ones.

Meanwhile, Haku began reminiscing about his days as an orphan living a life with no direction and no hope out on the streets; until his master Zabuza found him, that is. Zabuza was her precious person; the man he would gladly kill others and sacrifice his own life for.

"What I mean is," continued Haku, "when a person has something important to protect…that is when they become truly strong."

Naruto eye's widened at the statement as he remembered numerous instances from his life; his rescuing of Hinata from the Kumo-nin Ruido, Kakashi reassuring him during the fight against Zabuza, and finally, Tazuna's story about Kaiza and Inari.

"Yeah; I understand that very well," replied Naruto with a grin. Haku smiled in return before getting up.

"You will definitely become strong. I'm sure of it. And I hope we can meet again someday," said Haku as she walked away with her basket in hand, "Oh, and by the way…I'm a boy."

Naruto's jawdropped as he promptly spluttered over himself in beweilderment; how could this absolutely gorgeous entity be a guy? It was outrageous!

"N-No way; how could you not be a girl! You're one of the prettiest I've ever met in my life! T-that's just…it's…but you…" stammered Naruto in utter shock and confusion, as the blonde was still in denial.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, but it's the truth. Despite my rather…feminine appearance, I am actually in fact a bo-…"

"But it's not just that! If you're really a guy, then why…_why do you have such big breasts_!" exclaimed Naruto, causing Haku's eyes to widen at his statement. In shock, the long-haired "boy" promptly dropped his basket of herbs on the ground.

'_B-breast; what is he talking about…I don't have breasts_.'

Haku looked down at himself nervously…only to find a hint of cleavage poking out of his low-cut kimono. Giving an audible gasp in shock, Haku ripped the front of his, or was it her, kimono before finding to his/her horror that he/she did, in fact, have a pair of breasts; rather large ones in fact.

'_W-what are these! And how did I not notice them until now_!' cried Haku mentally as she went to check the spot in between her legs. Instead of finding a certain familiar appendage where her crotch was, Haku found nothing but a little slit. Unable to take it any longer, the former male-now-female promptly fainted, causing her to fall backwards.

Alarmed, Naruto ran forward to catch her, but upon seeing her exposed breasts hanging out of the opened front of her kimono; Naruto's soon-to-be-pubescent mind was overloaded by the erotic imagery, causing blood to spurt from Naruto's nostrils and launch him away.

When he finally landed, the nosebleeding ninja was already out cold, with Haku's likewise unconscious body lying not far from him.

TBC

A.N. So there you have it folks, Chapter 17. There's alot less focus in this chapter on Team 7 then the previous two chapters, and more humor than the last one as well. And for the record; yes, Haku as originally a boy in this timeline, just like in canon, but Choetsu transformed him in to a girl at the end of this chapter.

Also, Hoshikuzu is basially going to be a heroic version of Akatsuki, especially considering who their members are right now. Choetsu will explain more about Hoshikuzu in upcoming chapters. As for his wife, well, I'll elaborate more on her and more of Choetsu's backstory in the future. So don't worry about.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I'm officially done with AP exams, so I should be churning out chapters at the regular rate in coming weeks. Please read and review, people!


	19. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Yesssssss, I will tell the masses that I don't own Naruto, swaying them into a false sense of security that-...wait, was I typing that out loud? Oh damn.

Author's Note: I apologize for not includign the meaning of Hoshikuzu in the last chapter. According to Google translate, it means "stardust". Pretty, huh?

Chapter 18: Kyokutanna

Momochi Zabuza sighed as he lay in bed, waiting for his strength to return. The hideout provided for them by their employer had been his prison for the past week, and he was eager to get out of it. He couldn't wait until he would finally be able to fight Kakashi again. This time, he wouldn't let the Sharingan-user get the upper hand over him.

Hearing the sound of rummaging from the living room and sensing a familiar presence, the bedridden swordsman called out, "Is that you Haku; s'bout time you got here."

"O-Oh, Zabuza-sama; y-you're awake," replied Haku's voice from the living room in an unusually nervous tone, "M-my apologize, I…I was caught up with something in the woods, while I was picking herbs for your medicine."

"That's surprising; you're usually so punctual. What happened?"

"N-nothing; I just had some issues with finding a certain plant. B-by the way; do you…do you happen to have any random, spare _bras_ lying around anywhere. J-just wondering, hehe."

"Bras? Why the hell would I have one of those!" replied Zabuza forcefully, "And _Kami_ forbid that I ask this, but, _why in the world would you want one_? Please don't tell me you're going to start wearing the fucking things! You already look too much like a girl as it is; now you're gonna start wearing their underwear! What the fuck's wrong with you!"

"S-sorry; it's a long story. A really long story," replied Haku before the gender-swapped individual finally walked into Zabuza's bedroom with a great deal of cleavage hanging out of the front of her kimono and a nerve-wracked expression on her fa-…wait; _great deal of cleavage_? What the hell!

"A-anyways," began Haku awkwardly as her master stared at her with an utterly bewildered expression on his bandaged face, "Do you know a place where I could buy a bra? I checked this woman's underwear catalogue I found and measured myself; apparently, I'm a 32D…"

Momochi Zabuza, the infamous Demon of the Hidden Mist, promptly fainted at this.

* * *

><p>"It's usually the other way around but," began Hatake Kakashi as he strolled lazily through the forest of Wave country, "now I'm the one searching aimlessly for my students. I wonder where they could've gone."<p>

As he walked through the woods with his hands snug in his two pockets, Kakashi dwelled mentally on their current situation. The last time he checked, which was last night, both Sasuke and Kurama had made tremendous progress with their tree climbing exercise, but didn't have it down just yet. Of course, Naruto had already mastered tree climbing on the first day and was supposedly working on a one-handed Rasengan, but Kakashi had yet to see the fruit of his labor.

Overall, the silver-haired _jonin_ was deeply satisfied with his three students' improvements; he knew that when Zabuza and his masked partner arrived and finally engaged them in a rematch, they would definitely be ready for it. But Zabuza wasn't who he was worried about.

It was the legendary S-Rank missing-nin Kakuzu, who had attacked him and Zabuza during their first battle, who had the Copy-nin so anxious. The bounty hunter was a monster on a whole other level from elite jonin like Zabuza and himself. He had an affinity for all five elements thanks to those freaky masks of his, and he could summon demonic familiars each bearing one of these masks to fight for him. His body was like a ragdoll made up of many interlocking and interwoven threads of black fiber that rendered the _nuke-nin_ practically immortal. And his agility, durability, and raw power were mind-boggling.

If Kakuzu had decided to attack them when Kakashi was still recuperating from chakra exhaustion, well, there would have been nothing they could've done to stop him. Which begs the question; why didn't he? Surely, a highly experienced ninja like him who has been rumored to have somehow been around since the Shodai's time could've figured out the scarecrow's desperate, last minute gambit.

But he didn't, and that was what worried the Cyclops the most. Was he planning something?

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei! Over here!" exclaimed a voice from the trees above. Looking up, the masked shinobi found his blonde student standing atop a tree branch. With a leap, Namikaze Naruto jumped down to his instructor's level before landing on his feet.

"Oh, Naruto…there you are. I've been looking for you. Well, not you exactly, but I was hoping I would come across at least one of my students," said Kakashi with an eye smile, "How did training go for you? You left last night after we listened to Tazuna's story and you never came back."

"It went really, really well actually. Wanna see?" replied Naruto, to which Kakashi nodded. Raising his right hand so that his palm was facing up, Naruto began gathering pure chakra before rotating it and compressing the energy into a spiraling, azure sphere. All of this was done with one hand.

"That's great, Naruto," praised Kakashi with wide eyes as he admired the complete Rasengan formed in his student's hand, "I didn't think you'd get it down so quickly. And that formation time was pretty quick. Good job!"

"Well, I am who I am," said Naruto good-naturedly, "By the way; where's Sasuke-teme and my sister?"

"No clue. I was actually lookin-…" began Kakashi before being interrupted by the arrival of a kunai at his feet. Mildly alarmed, both Leaf-nin turned skywards before finding a certain crimson-haired vixen lazing on top of a tree branch, with her clothes and her skin covered in dirt and bruises; evidence of the intense training she had undergone last night.

"Hiya," greeted the Hokage's daughter cheerfully.

'_Wow, my sis can already climb that high. That's amazing!_' thought Naruto in awe.

'_Pretty good; it's certainly a big improvement_,' mused Kakashi inwardly.

"So, what do you guys think," continued Namikaze Kurama with a radiant expression, "I can climb pretty high now, can't I."

"You're awesome, sis!" exclaimed Naruto with a shit-eating grin and a thumbs up, causing Kurama to giggle at his praise. From her prone position on the tree branch, the former _bijuu_ started to rise, using her hands and feet to push off against the branch. Just as she was about to get up, however, the redhead lost her balance and her feet slipped, causing her to fall off the branch to both Kakashi and Naruto's horror.

"Oh crap, Kurama!" Naruto cried out in distress for his little sister

"Damn! If you fall from that height…" muttered Kakashi as he watched his student fall, '_I can't save her; my body is still weak_.'

"AHHHHH!" screamed the plummeting kunoichi…only for a black blur to flicker beneath her suddenly. The figure caught Kurama's falling body, wrapping his arms around her tightly before sticking his feet to the tree branch. Although his feet were glued to the branch, gravity pushed the rest of his body downwards, causing the two individuals to pivot until they were both upside down.

Kurama turned her head until she could see the face of her savior behind her. She was greeted by the stoic face of one Uchiha Sasuke, who returned her gaze with a look of indifference. An awkward silence set in between the two less than amicable teammates followed by Kurama promptly realizing where exactly Sasuke's hands were resting.

"T-thanks, Sasuke; for saving me, but…_ could you please take your hands off my breasts_!"

Kurama's outburst shocked the normally calm and collected Uchiha to the core as he suddenly became aware of the soft lumps of flesh that he had been groping unintentionally. So flabbergasted was Sasuke that he immediately lost his focus, causing his feet to lose their grip on the tree branch, and his hands to let go of the red-haired vixen. With a shriek from Kurama and an anguished groan from Sasuke, the two teammates began plunging towards the ground.

Reacting quickly, Sasuke grabbed unto Kurama's wrist, but it was futile as he himself was also falling. It seemed hopeless for the two genin as they fell in slow motion to what could be their possible death. Suddenly, however, the raven-haired pre-teen felt a hand grab unto his ankle, halting both his and Kurama's fall.

"Sigh, what ever will I do with you two?" teased Naruto playfully as he held onto Sasuke's ankle. Looking up, Kurama found her brother holding onto her third teammate, resulting in the three genin forming a human chain. Naruto was at the beginning with his feet sticking to the tree branch, and Kurama herself was at the end as her wrist was gripped by Sasuke's hand.

As he watched Naruto save both his rival and his sibling, Kakashi regarded the three genin under his care with a feeling of pride swelling up inside of him.

"These guys are growing up well…" muttered the Copy-nin softly to himself.

* * *

><p>A yellow flash briefly illuminated the Hokage's office as two figures arrived in the room. One was a tall, adult male with spiky blonde hair; he was wearing a Leaf jonin vest with blue pants and a white, flame-patterned cloak that had the kanji for "Fourth Hokage" on its backside. The other was a woman with long, crimson tresses that went all the way down to her lower back; she was wearing a light, pink sundress that ended just past her knees.<p>

Taking out a scroll from his cloak, the male figure handed it to his female companion before speaking, "Here, Kushina, take this to our shop back home. You can start analyzing it if you want."

Taking the ancient scroll hesitantly, Kushina gave her husband a look before replying, "What about you? Aren't you coming along?"

"Sorry, I have business to attend to," answered Minato as he dispelled the _kage bunshin_ working at his desk, "I have a meeting with some important foreign dignitaries, and it's considered bad form to receive them with a shadow clone."

"Oh, like they'll ever find out."

"I'm serious, Kushina. Believe it or not, conflicts have erupted in the past due to ambassadors discovering that they've been meeting with clones and becoming insulted at the fact. It's all really stupid, but it's the truth. I'm not taking the risk that my clone will accidently brush against something too hard and end up popping."

"Oh, what do you care? You're the Yondaime Hokage; the most feared and respected man in the entire world!"

"Kushina…" warned Minato.

"Oh fine," acquiesced Kushina, "I'll meet you back at the house. I'm gonna have a lot of fun with this scroll, and you're going to really miss out. See ya!"

* * *

><p>When she arrived back at the Namikaze estate, Namikaze Kushina headed straight for the manor's basement level. The door to the basement was a simple wooden one, but like the estate itself, it was protected by a <em>fuinjutsu<em>-based security system designed in a joint effort between Kushina and her husband. It would take the rampage of one of the more powerful tailed beasts to even come close to breaching it.

Placing her palm on the DNA seal, Kushina waited as the complex array of delicately arranged characters scanned the genetic material in her hand, confirming that she was authorized access to the basement. With the security system temporarily disarmed, the mother of two proceeded with opening the basement door, allowing her to enter.

Inside, Kushina found herself in a large, bare room with grey, concrete walls and a black, polished marble floor. Along the walls were glass panes in which mannequins were wearing copies of the Yondaime's signature cloak. As she walked in, image projector seals began glowing with an azure radiance as holographic screens and interfaces materialized in mid-air. Kushina touched the holograms delicately, activating more of the workshop's engraved sealing systems and readying the room for her task.

"Rei-chan! You awake?" called Kushina as she pressed her fingers against another hologram, causing a marble slab to rise out of the ground and form a makeshift table.

"Of course, Kushina; Minato-kun didn't design me to be able to sleep after all," replied a feminine-sounding, disembodied voice that seemed to resound from everywhere in the room.

Kushina took out the ancient scroll that her husband had given her before placing it on the marble slab with a huff, "Since when has it been "Minato-_kun_", huh, Rei?"

Rei was a fuinjutsu-based artificial intelligence or A.I. that Minato created with her help. The A.I. assumed the personality of a young, civilian woman, and was basically Minato's assistant who helped run their fuinjutsu workshop/basement.

"Oh, since he gave me such a fabulous present for my birthday a yesterday," answered the A.I.

"Birthday present? Since when did an A.I. have a bir-…" began Kushina before being interrupted when a new holographic figure materialized suddenly. The hard-light figure was humanoid, with a slender, feminine frame, wavy crimson locks the same color as her own that went down to her upper back, a pair of glasses covering her amber-colored eyes, and a secretary-esque outfit consisting of a white buttoned blouse and a short black skirt covering her body.

"Ta-da!" said Rei enthusiastically as she did a little twirl in excitement, "How do you like the new look. Minato-kun created it using the projection seals, and he calls it my "avatar"; now you've got a pretty face to go with that cute voice of mine, hehehe."

"And of course he would make you a redhead…" said Kushina under her breath.

"What was that, master? Do I sense a hint of jealousy in your voice?" teased Rei smugly.

"Shove it, Rei, or I'll modify those projection seals of yours to display you as being fat and ugly," threatened Kushina darkly.

"NO! Anything but that! How will Minato-kun love me anymore without my devilishly good looks!" exclaimed the hologram overdramatically.

"Like he ever loved you in the first place," muttered the annoyed wife, "But enough of that; I need you to help me with something, Rei-chan…something big."

* * *

><p>He had to hand it to Danzo; the entrance to his hideout was almost impossible to find, even with the info given to him by Jiraiya. If he didn't have that, Itachi didn't think he would ever find it.<p>

The entrance itself was glaringly obvious, once you found where it was. But that was the hard part; finding it amidst a dense forest in the middle of an immense valley cradled between two mountains was a daunting task. It was a huge, rectangular hole in the ground leading to a set of iron-wrought doors. Jumping into the hole, the Uchiha heir formed a few hand seals before breathing a small stream of fire from his mouth.

The exhaled flames melted the lock, allowing Itachi to break the doors down with a kick. The ANBU Commander promptly rushed into the foyer with weapons ready and chakra flared, expecting to meet resistance immediately. He was instead greeted by nothing but a dusty, barren hallway devoid of life.

Puzzled, Itachi looked around with his Sharingan to see if his perceived enemies were simply hiding in the shadows, but still found nothing. Worried that he was too late, Itachi casted a _genjutsu _to mask his presence before proceeding forward with haste; even if Danzo and his agents had left like he feared, there might still be some valuable data left behind for him to find.

Unfortunately, even after searching for what seemed to be a good half-hour; the raven-haired teenager was unable to find anything of merit in the many rooms of the hideout. It was clear to him that Danzo had expected him and had his entire base completely evacuated of everything important.

As he was walking down another dark hallway, the Sharingan-user was just about making his decision to leave when he heard the sound of whispering around the corner. Intrigued by the possibility of enemies still being present in the compound, the crow-masked ANBU turned the corner, confidant in his genjutsu's ability to keep his presence hidden, before finding three individuals walking towards him.

All three of them were shinobi garbed in black long-sleeved shirts and grey pants, with grey short-sleeves over the black shirts. They had light, brownish wraps tied around their waists, and purple stripes running down the gap between their torsos and arms. Finally, they were wearing light-grey scarves with blackish purple spots and dark, black masks that wrapped around their entire heads, only leaving their eyes visible. Stitched onto their masked foreheads were silver, metallic plates with the symbol of a music note engraved on them.

The three "music note" ninja as he called them were walking in a triangular formation, with two of them leading at the front and the third hanging back at the rear. Using a quick, silent _shunshin_, Itachi flickered behind the rearmost shinobi before knocking him out with a karate chop to the back of the neck, whilst simultaneously muffling his scream with a hand covering his mouth.

Catching the unconscious music note-nin, Itachi carefully laid him on the floor without making a sound before noiselessly running up to the two remaining enemies and grabbing them both by the head. With a resounding snap, the elite assassin had cracked both their necks, killing them instantly. He dragged the two bodies to the side of the corridor before casting an illusion to hide their presence.

With his gruesome task complete, Itachi turned back to the unconscious man and shook him awake with a slap to the face. When the man came to, Itachi immediately casted a sound-blocking technique before speaking, "Don't bother calling for help; no one is going to hear you. And don't even think about trying to escape. Now, please be cooperative and tell me where Shimura Danzo is, or I'll have to resort to more drastic measures."

The music-note-nin simply glared at him with a stunning intensity before giving his reply, "Go and fuck yourself, 'cuz I'm not saying a single, damn word."

"We'll see about that," said the ANBU Commander before taking off his crow mask, revealing a pair of glowing Sharingan eyes.

* * *

><p>Kimi was just a simple, teenage girl with long, curly brown hair and a ten month old baby brother. She always wanted to settle in a large village, but the non-sedentary lifestyle of her family prevented her from doing so.<p>

That's why she thought it was absolutely unfair that out of all of the mostly pacifistic, wandering clans of simple, nomadic animal-herders in the world, a band of ruthless ninja mercenaries decides to attack hers. They had chosen to strike at the worst possible moment; right after the clan had chosen a spot to settle temporarily, when things were the most hectic for the band of nomads.

As she ponders the perceived injustice of the world, Kimi is at the same time frantically packing all of her family's belongings along with her mother, that way they can escape the raid. Buying time for them, as well as all of the other woman and children in the nomad's camp, are the brave and able-bodied men who play the role of fathers and brothers and sons to them all. These men are currently dying in droves against the superior skill and power of the attacking shinobi. Kimi knows cynically that her father is probably already dead.

As she packs the last of what she can in a non-descript pack which she slings around her left shoulder, Kimi grabs her mother and together, they make their way out of the tent. Around them is a scene of chaos as the outnumbered-but-definitely-not-outgunned mercenary-nin slaughter the clan defenders in a hopelessly one-sided battle. The nomadic militia fight back with makeshift blades not worthy of the name swords while the attackers annihilate them with shuriken, kunai, and _ninjutsu_.

The only individual on the nomad's side that puts up any sort of fight is the clan's sole ninja; an outsider named Hiro who became an honorary member of the clan a few decades ago. In the corner of her vision, Kimi spots the old man roast a group of enemies with an intense fire technique.

Seeing that none of the ninja had seemed to notice their presence just yet, Kimi egged on her aging mother. If they could just escape the camp, then they would be home free, albeit without an actual home. If they escaped, the raiders wouldn't bother wasting effort and manpower on chasing down a 15-year old girl and her mother. They just needed to escape.

"Wait, Kimi, we need to stop!" exclaimed her mother as she tugged on Kimi's arm, halting the girl in her tracks, "We left little Jin-chan behind! We have to go back, we have to back!"

"WHAT! How could we leave Jin behind?" Kimi barked back, "Weren't you taking care of him before the attack, Kaa-chan?"

"No! Your Aunt Mai was babysitting him, remember! We need to go back! My baby!"

"O-okay," said Kimi while trying to calm her frantic mother, "I'll go and get him. You stay here!"

"No! I can't just let you go off on your ow-…"

"Stay here!" And with that, Kimi had nipped the argument in its bud. Her mother nodded hesitantly, before the nomadic teenager ran off to retrieve her baby brother.

* * *

><p>Somewhere in Amegakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Rain…<p>

"D-did you require something of me, Choetsu-sama?" inquired one Akasuna no Sasori with a respectful yet nervous tone. The red-haired puppet master was currently donning the black, starry cloak of _Hoshikuzu_, and the individual he was addressing was none other than its leader, the _Rikudou Hiraishin_ himself.

The blonde Rinnegan-user was currently sitting atop the tallest citadel in Ame with his legs crossed in a lotus position. The endless downpour of rain that was a constant in the industrialized village seemed to avoid the Rikudou like a plague, bending around him as if it were being blocked by an invisible force.

"Although I rather dig the whole "Choetsu-sama" business, could you please stop shivering in terror whenever you're in my presence," began Choetsu in a frustrated tone, "It's rather annoying, especially coming from you. OOC is serious business, after all."

Sasori remained speechless, but the waves of fear palpitating off of him were obvious. And Choetsu didn't even think human puppets could radiate fear like that. He learned something knew everyday, apparently.

"Okay, this is getting old. Did I really scare you that much? Sigh, whatever puppet boy. If it makes you feel better, I have a mission for you."

Sasori's eyes widened at this, his fear being temporarily replaced by curiosity, "A mission, sir? You mean for Hoshikuzu?"

"Yes indeed; the very first, in fact. You, puppet boy, have the honor of carrying out the opening act of Hoshikuzu," explained Choetsu before standing up and turning around, revealing his orange-pigmented Sage eyes to the Suna missing-nin, "My incredibly amazing and unbelievably awesome senses are telling me that right now, along the border of the Land of Fire near the Valley of the End, a simple band of nomads is being raided by a gang of ninja mercenaries, not affiliated with any of the hidden villages. They're a ruthless bunch, and the nomads are being slaughtered as all of their belongings are either raided or trashed by these mercenaries."

"And what is my mission in regards to these nomads and their attackers?"

Choetsu smirked at him before answering, "Intervention…"

* * *

><p>Kimi scampered madly through the cacophony of the battle-ridden camp, trying to be as quick yet as stealthy as possible; her objective being the hopefully-still-intact tent of her Aunt Mai. She needed to find her baby brother before anything happened. Luckily for her, it didn't seem like any of the marauding ninja had noticed her, as she hadn't been attacked yet.<p>

With hope-filled eyes, the teenage nomad spotted her aunt's tent, untouched by the ravages of the enemy raiders. She prayed to whatever powers were out there that her baby brother was still safe inside.

Just as she was about to run inside the tent, however, a thrown shuriken nicked her left shoulder; drawing blood and a shriek from her. Turning around, Kimi found herself cornered by a few mercenary-nin, leering at her with lust-filled eyes. This wasn't good. No, this was very, very bad. Kimi was old enough to know what happened next.

* * *

><p>Flashback:<p>

_When Choetsu had finally gotten them to all sit down so he could explain the purpose and mission of Hoshikuzu, well, it had opened a lot of minds to the truth._

_By then, Sasori had undergone some much needed therapy from Konan, who wasn't an actual therapist but was surprisingly adept at getting people to solve their own issues, so he no longer experienced panic attacks whenever he was in Choetsu's presence. _

_"Now that we're all here, and puppet boy isn't having a fit," began Choetsu as he addressed the current members of Hoshikuzu, "I think I should begin by shedding some truth on myself and my background. For instance; I am not really the Yondaime Hokage's brother…"_

_"I figured as much," said Nagato, the false Rikudou, "I always thought that was a pretty flimsy explanation. So, who are you really?"_

_"…I'm his grandson."_

_"WHAT!"_

* * *

><p>"Well, look's like you're up, Sasori-chan…"<p>

The red-haired puppet master nodded back at Choetsu before unbuttoning his Hoshikuzu cloak and taking it off, revealing his puppet body. At the center of his torso, however, was a circle of light glowing with an azure radiance; one of the changes that Choetsu had made to Sasori's body.

"Oh, and by the way; although it's extremely overkill…you're free to use those modifications I made to your puppet form."

Hearing those words removed any trace of fear or anxiety from the puppet master, as a disturbingly wide smile made its way on his face. As the glowing circle on his chest shined brighter and brighter, the blue pants he was wearing dissolved, for a lack of a better term, directly into his skin.

Then, a black substance started to materialize on him, spreading and spreading until the entire surface of Sasori's skin was jet black, dark as the midnight sky. Even his hair had gone from crimson to lustrous silver, in direct contrast to his glossy, black skin.

Then, silver lines starting forming all over his body, crisscrossing and intersecting wherever they did. The combination of silver linings and the black surface made Sasori look like a futuristic super-soldier wearing some type of hyper-advanced body suit.

Next, where the silver lines traversed, unusual sealing arrays appeared, each one bearing the kanji for "armor" followed by a certain number. And finally, as the circle of light reached its peak luminosity, all of the silver lines and armor seals began glowing that same azure radiance, becoming more and more intense until clouds of smoke erupted from each armor seal on Sasori's body, enveloping him in a smokescreen.

* * *

><p>Kimi shivered in terror while gripping her bleeding shoulder as the marauding ninja inched towards her with disturbing expressions on their faces, as if they were eying her like a piece of meet. She was surrounded on all sides by a circle of similar-looking ninja, and the only avenue of escape was to the rear, where she could run into her Aunt Mai's tent and hopefully find her baby brother. But could she do it before these ninja reached her?<p>

Deciding that it was worth a shot, Kimi made an 180˚ and full on sprinted for the tent. It seemed like she would be home free as none of the shinobi tried to stop her, but just as she was about to reach the entrance of the tent, a figure flickered in front of her and halted her advance by forcefully pushing her to the ground.

She tried to get up, but the man pinned her to the ground before groping her clothed breasts with a lecherous grin on his face. She squirmed in disgust at his unwanted touch before slapping him hard in the face. His reaction was one that haunted Kmi to her very core, as his facial expression shifted from perverted to downright murderous and a craze gleam formed in the man's eye.

Giving a frightening grunt, the brute grabbed the front of Kimi's top and was just about to rip it off when a hail of shuriken hit him from the side, killing the attempted rapist instantly as the star-shaped projectiles embedded themselves in the left side of his body, leaving deep, bleeding wounds on his head, left shoulders, sides, and thighs. With a heavy thump, Kimi's assaulter fell to the ground; dead on his side.

Looking up in bewilderment, Kimi found herself gazing upon the form of her savior; the old, retired shinobi Hiro, who was her clan's protector. The wrinkled-grey haired man smiled at her before finishing a set of hand seals and slamming his two palms against the ground. In an instant, stone spikes emerged from the Earth, impaling the circle of enemy ninja and killing them all instantly.

The aged shinobi walked to her slowly before helping Kimi up. Hiro continued to smile as he patted off some of the dust that got on Kimi's dress, while the teenage nomad remained speechless as an awkward silence set in.

"T-Thank you, H-Hiro-san," said Kimi in gratitude after finally regaining her voice, "Thank you for saving me."

The old man replied cheerfully, "It was my pleasure, Kimi-san. I'm always happy to hel-…UGH!" The old man grunted as he was cut off mid-sentence when a blade impaled him from behind, exiting out his front from his left breast. Blood gushed from the wound and his mouth as Kimi shrieked in horror.

Around them, the enemy ninja who had been impaled by Hiro's stone spikes popped in a poof of smoke, revealing them to be nothing but shadow clones.

Now, standing behind Hiro was a tall man with spiky, light brown hair. He was wearing black slacks with no shirt, but his entire upper body was covered in bandages, including the lower half of his face. In his left hand was the blade that had stabbed Hiro, and his other hand was gripping the old man's right shoulder.

Hiro's killer stared at her with a lustful expression before speaking, "Well hello there. It must be my lucky day today…it's not everyday that I get to meet such a pretty face."

* * *

><p><em>"…so, you're saying that you're actually Namikaze Minato's time-travelling grandson from the future, and that in your timeline, you became the Eight Hokage for thirty years before sealing yourself away under Konoha for nearly two decades. And then after that, someone awakened you in a time of great conflict, which you played a major part in resolving. Did I get all that?" said Uzumaki Nagato, in response to the Rikudou Hiraishin's brief autobiography.<em>

_"Don't forget the part about how I created a peaceful utopia and received the title of Shodai Kamikage. And also how I ascended to a higher plane of existence, becoming a True Rikudou in the process; but yeah…other than that, you basically got everything in a nutshell," replied the other Rinnegan-user, "Quite farfetched, isn't it? Do you believe a single word that I've told you?"_

_"I…I'm not sure. It all seems so…fantastical and unrealistic, for lack of a better word. Almost like a child made it up in his own imagination," said Konan with a frown, "But after seeing what you've done and what you're capable of, well; your story is starting to seem more and more plausible. I think I may actually believe you."_

_"Good, that's always the first step. I'm glad you three aren't as annoyingly skeptical as some people I know; it took a trip to the past to convince Minato-chan that I was who I said I was."_

_"Well, I hope you won't have to resort to such drastic measures with us," Nagato commented, "But let's just assume for now, without any further evidence, that everything you've said so far is true. That you're really a transcendent, celestial being who can alter reality at will and make genuine gods seem like ants before you. Why then, are you bothering yourself with us?"_

_Choetsu raised an eyebrow at the Ame leader's question before replying with a sigh, "I had a feeling you would ask that. To be completely honest with you; I'm really just doing this for my own amusement."_

* * *

><p>When the smoke cleared, Sasori was surrounded by an assortment of floating, armored contraptions. Each one was of a glossy, reflective chrome paintjob with jet black overtones. They came in all shapes and sizes; some were irregular, looking like nothing, while others took the form of hands, arms, feet, legs, and even a helmet like object that was clearly intended to be a head.<p>

Chakra strings were released from Sasori's black under-sheath before grabbing the suspended armor pieces and dragging them inwards. One by one, the multitude of mechanical pieces assembled over Sasori's body, locking together perfectly and building atop each other.

When the initial process was over, Sasori was encased in a massive suit of polished silver armor. At the center of the armor suit's chest piece was the same circle of light that projected from Sasori's own chest, powering the entire machine. On each palm and at the base of each foot were smaller circles of light, their purpose unknown for now. All over the armored body, flaps opened and close, checking the suit's aerodynamic properties. A metallic mask retracted over Sasori's face, before the mask's eye sockets radiated an azure glow.

Lastly, when the main body of Sasori's armored form was complete, two clamps on Sasori's back retracted upwards before six large fin-like bits attached themselves, three to each clamp. And now, Sasori's brand, new _Kyokutanna Modo_ (Extreme Mode) was finally complete. (A.N. If you want to try and visualize Extreme Mode, just think the silver Iron Man Mk. II armor from the movie, but with Hi-Nu Gundam's fin-funnels from the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise. And yes, my mind is still stuck on the Avengers movie…got a problem with that?)

Seeing the puppet master's new armored form in person, Choetsu had only one thing to say, "Ahh…I love the smell of overkill in the morning."

* * *

><p>Hiro was one of the kindest, most gentle souls she had ever met; an oddity for his chosen profession. It was no surprise to her that the old man had given up his violent way of life years ago to become a wanderer.<p>

Out of all of the families in her nomadic clan, Kimi and her immediate family were probably the closest to him. Now that she thought about it that was probably the reason why Hiro had chosen to save her, when there was a battle unfolding around him. And he was killed for it.

As she watched the old man's body plunge to the ground, with an expression of deathly shock still present on his face and a blade still sticking out of his heart, Kimi was filled with unimaginable sorrow, which immediately turned to hate and anger.

Lashing out, the teenage girl tried to assault Hiro's killer; a not so well-thought out move on her part. The instant she tried to rush the bandaged man, Kimi's throat was seized by the spiky-haired mercenary's right hand, causing her to choke in pain and shock before the man slammed her to the ground.

"You little bitch; I was actually debating in my mind whether or not I should be merciful and give you a swift, painless death," spat the bandaged man harshly, "But now after that little display, I think I'll have my fun with you instead."

Kimi tried to scream, but the only thing that came out was a whimper, as her windpipe was being squeezed firmly by the man's hand. She tried to pry off the hand with her fingers, but she just wasn't strong enough. She was completely helpless.

"The name's Akito, by the way," stated the bandaged shinobi, "Remember it, because it's the last name you'll ever hear. And I'm the last person you'll ever see, hear, feel, or talk to. But don't worry…I won't let you die a virgin."

* * *

><p><em>"So basically, this is all just one big joke to you," said Konan in a warning tone as she got up from her seat, "All of our hardships, our struggles, our sufferings, our very lives are nothing but a source of entertainment to you! That's…that's…that's absolutely despicable!"<em>

_"It's true, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it," replied Choetsu with a sigh, "But just because I see you all as one big story, don't think for a second that I don't take you seriously. A man can read a book and care about the characters inside of it. I genuinely want your timeline to experience true peace; the very same peace that I fought for in my timeline."_

_"Then do it! You're virtually omnipotent," snapped Nagato angrily, "All you have to do is clap your hands, say "let there be peace", and all of our problems will be solved."_

_"It's not that simple. If peace isn't earned, then what good is it? I can't hand you a utopia on a silver platter. All I can do is guide you to the right path. And if I can get my shits and giggles out of it at the same time, well, then what's wrong with that!"_

_"You're playing with our lives! That's what's wrong with it!" exclaimed Konan, the normally stoic woman's outburst proving to be quite the shock to her lover._

_"K-Konan, that's…that's enough," said Nagato hesitantly in an attempt to calm his blue-haired companion down, "Let's just ignore Choetsu-san's motivations for helping us at the moment. For now, can we just focus on the fact that he's actually willing to help us. If we can finally obtain the peace we've been searching for all of these years, Konan-chan, then I don't give a damn if he's just using us for his own amusement."_

_Fortunately, the S-Rank angel seemed to compose herself before sitting back down in her chair._

_"Attagirl," said Nagato with a smile, "Now that that's over with; could you please share with us a few things, Choetsu-san. Like how you managed to create a utopia in your original timeline. How exactly do you obtain true peace?"_

* * *

><p>With his armored suit's assembly complete, Sasori ran a few checks on the Kyokutanna as data was fed to his mind directly through the under-sheath, which was linked to his artificial nervous system. Finding all systems to be in order, the cyborg puppet master swiveled the six fin-like bits acting as wings on his back in a cascading motion; it was one last test before he fired up the chakra boosters integrated in his "bit-wings".<p>

Azure streams of pure energy erupted from nozzles embedded in each bit-wing as they flared outwards in a majestic manner. Stretching out his palms downwards, Sasori waited as the blue circles of light on each palm brightened before releasing their own sapphiric exhaust.

"Good luck, Sasori-chan, and please…_get dangerous_," was Choetsu's last words to him before the Suna missing-nin blasted off with a burst of chakra from the thrusters in his feet, adding to the force emitted from his palms and wings. So fast was the armored being's take off and acceleration that it seemed like he had teleported. However, looking up, Choetsu spotted a brief flicker as Kyokutanna Mode Sasori reappeared hundreds of meters in mid-air; having stopped for a split second to change directions.

Vectoring his thruster wings from down to rear-facing, Sasori felt the force from his chakra thrusters propel him forward at blistering velocities, causing him to vanish from sight once again.

Choetsu smirked widely at his creation; the Extreme Mode Armor. It seemed like a highly advanced and extremely advanced piece of equipment and technology, completely out of place in this world's setting and era. But it wasn't technology at all; not per se. It was simply a practical application of ninjutsu.

The individual armor pieces that made up the Kyokutanna's outer shell were formed by him through the use of an advanced nature manipulation that combined a grand total of _four_ elements. It was called a _Kekkei Kanryo_, or Bloodline Completion, which was the next level after a _Kekkei Tota_. Specifically, the type he used to create Sasori's armor was called _Tekkuton_, or Techno Release. It combined water, earth, fire, and lightning chakra together, allowing one to forge technological marvels from their chakra alone and in an instant.

Of course, not being created by a permanent technique like _Banbutsu Sozo_, the powered armor would eventually fade away over time, after running out of chakra. But Choetsu solved that problem by keeping each of the armor pieces sealed in arrays etched on Sasori's under-sheath, and when unsealed, they would be powered by chakra generated by the radiant _Senjutsu_ Core in the puppeteer's chest.

Speaking of the Senjutsu Core, well; it was basically a miniature reactor that mixed together spiritual and physical energy taken from Sasori's still-living heart, and natural energy gathered, collected, and refined by special seals that were integrated in the under-sheath. It gave Sasori and by extension, the Kyokutanna Armor extremely potent chakra and immense reserves.

That, combined with the new weapons and features included in the puppet master's new suit of armor, transformed Sasori of the Red Sands from merely a one-man army…to a weapon of mass destruction.

* * *

><p><em>"The first thing you have to do is ask yourself," began Choetsu with his explanation, "what exactly causes conflict in this world? Why do people fight and kill and destroy each other; what drives them to that extent?"<em>

_His question prompted a state of thoughtful ponderings from the listeners, even nervous Sasori. Choetsu smiled at this; that was the purpose of the question, after all. It was meant to get people thinking…truly thinking about the concept known as peace._

_When the replies finally came, they came in a series of varying one word answers._

_Greed, vengeance, paranoia, rage, bloodlust, prejudice, and hatred were just some of the answers given by Nagato, Konan, and Sasori. They were all right in a sense, but at the same time…none of them were._

_"It's survival," answered Choetsu firmly, "The desire to survive is the ultimate and original cause of conflict."_

_Nagato gave him a puzzled look in response before speaking, "Survival? Why that? I mean, people do fight to survive, but it's not really the only reason why conflict occurs. Don't tell me that when a powerful nation tries to invade a weaker one, that they are doing it for their own survival."_

_"Sorry, I should probably rephrase what I said," replied the Rikudou Hiraishin, "The desire to survive AND thrive is the ultimate and original cause of conflict. Human beings desire happiness above all things, and in most cases, with some exception, you can't be happy when you're dead. This is why survival is so important; why almost all humans are fearful of death. From this zest for life and will to happiness does the drive to fight and kill others stem from. All other reasons for conflict originate from this."_

_"For example, Sasori gave the answer of greed for my question. Why are people greedy? It's because they want something. And when people want something, it's usually because they believe that they need it to be happy, or they need it to survive," continued Choetsu, "Nations can also be considered greedy, but for different reasons. One country could invade another for economic reasons, maybe a matter of scare resources or some other dilemma."_

_"Then there's vengeance, which Nagato mentioned. People kill each other for revenge. But an individual doesn't simply seek vengeance out of the blue. They are prompted to do this by the actions of another, something that wronged them in some way. It's a cycle; a chain of hatred. But the chain of hatred had to have had a starting point, somewhere in the distant past. Maybe, millennia ago, one ancient ancestor killed another over food, and that's how the whole thing began."_

_"As for paranoia, well, that's self-explanatory. An individual could be driven to kill his fellow over a misguided belief that they were threatening his or her life, and this could extend to the actions of entire nations. That's how the Third Shinobi World War began, after all; with Sunagakure's paranoid belief that another hidden village was responsible for their Sandaime's disappearance," said Choetsu, causing Sasori to look sheepish, "But people are paranoid because they want to survive, even if their desire for it is misguided."_

_"Rage, bloodlust, and hatred are, like vengeance, a reaction to something else and therefore cannot be considered ultimate causes of conflict. And finally, prejudice, like paranoia, is a twisted desire to live or be happy. For example, the prejudice against bloodline users in the Bloody Mist was due to fear, and fear is caused by a desire to survive."_

_"So, ultimately, almost every reason for conflict in the world can be linked to a desire to both survive and thrive in life. Of course, there are exceptions, but there are exceptions to everything, so it's a moot point," finished Choetsu. After the blonde Rinnegan-user's speech was over, a brief silence reigned as the three Hoshikuzu members mulled over Choetsu's words._

_"Even so," said Nagato, breaking the quiet, "How is knowing this going to help us achieve true peace?"_

_The time-travelling Rikudou flashed a grin at them before answering, "I'm glad you asked. You see, true peace, which I define as being both self-sustaining and maintained by the will of the people, not by force or the threat of force, can only be obtained by eliminating the ultimate cause of conflict." _

"_Other, peripheral causes of conflict can only achieve temporary peace," continued Choetsu, "For example; if you were to somehow remove all of the hatred in the world, people would stop fighting, but only temporarily. Eventually, conflict would have to begin anew, because having adequate resources is key to survival, resources are scarce, and people would have to fight over those resources, sooner or later."_

"_S-so, what…what you're saying," interjected Sasori in a nervous tone, still fearful of the Kamikage's presence, "is that the only way to create true peace is…to remove scarcity. A-am I right?"_

"_Bingo," was the Hachidaime's terse reply._

"_But how the hell are we supposed to do that!" exclaimed the de-aged, former cripple, "You can't just…remove scarcity like that!"_

"_Oh, but you can!" cried Choetsu in reply, "I've done it!"_

"_How?"_

"_Why, that's easy…through the practical use of ninjutsu, of course."_

* * *

><p>As Kyokutanna Mode Sasori soared through the skies travelling at hypersonic velocities, the man within the suit pondered his current situation in anticipations of the coming battle. A few weeks ago, hell, even just a few days ago, the Kazekage-killer would never have imagined himself in this role he was currently playing; that of an eccentric Rikudou's subordinate, carrying out missions of intervention in the name of peace.<p>

But a certain incident changed him; an incident that would haunt him for the rest of eternity.

'_That burning rage, that cold fury, the fear I felt when it was all directed at me_,' thought Sasori, '_I never want to go through that experience ever again. I never want to see those horrendous eyes and that dreadful expression ever again. Never, never again_."

To prove his resolve to prevent such an occurrence from re-occurring, Sasori was prepared to do anything, even sell his own soul, to keep the blonde Rikudou from becoming angry with him. If he had to serve him as a loyal member of Hoshikuzu to do so, well then, so be it.

Filled with dread from merely remembering that incident, Sasori calmed himself by performing breathtaking aerial maneuvers in mid-air. He plowed through a sea of clouds before making a loop, then spinning like a corkscrew through the air in a majestic fashion.

Flying always seemed to calm him nowadays. Ever since Choetsu-sama had given him the Kyokutanna, Sasori had taken quite a liking to the flight capabilities it offered. It was a gradual thing; however, as the Suna missing-nin had hated flying at first. It was due to the fact that Sasori tended to crash frequently and painfully when he was first testing the armor.

As the suit's chakra radar registered him as having passed over the region of _Hi no Kuni_ where his intervention would take place, the armored puppeteer decelerated to a halt in mid-air. In the split-second between Sasori braking and then accelerating again, the Hoshikuzu member had shifted his bit-wings to face up, vectoring the azure thrust in order to propel him downwards.

Now, the armor-clad redhead was descending to Earth with the speed of a meteorite, ready to deliver divine intervention from the very Heavens them self.

* * *

><p>Jiraiya giggled perversely as he peeped on a gorgeous goddess of a woman bathing stark naked, under a waterfall. With a notebook in hand, the Toad Sage was scribbling furiously from behind the bushes he was hiding in. The waterfall girl, as he called her, was a godsend in his eyes; a bundle of amazing luck that he had stumbled upon after his brief rendezvous with the ANBU Commander. The waterfall's location wasn't very far from where he had met Uchiha Itachi.<p>

As the super pervert admired the bathing female's perfect figure, luxurious curves, full breasts, enticing buttocks, and creamy legs, the author of _Icha Icha Paradise_ started daydreaming about the plotline for his future novel, drooling while he was at it.

Just as the alluring woman was about to bend down, which would have resulted in the voyeuristic Sannin receiving an oh-so perfect view of her genital area, Jiraiya suddenly sensed something that completely pried his attention from the waterfall. And when a phenomenon was able to distract the Perverted Sage from his precious "research", then it was obviously something big.

Staring up at the sky with an intense expression on his face, the Yondaime's sensei registered the feeling he was experiencing as the presence of another Sage Mode-user; or at least someone or something that could draw on the power of nature. It was an extremely disconcerting feeling, as only the three legendary animals linked to the _Densatsu no Sannin_ could teach Sage Mode. That was one of the main reasons why they were legendary in the first place.

If whatever this presence was had the ability to gather natural energy from the environment, then it was possible that Tsunade, or _Kami_ forbid Orochimaru, had managed to learn senjutsu from their respective summons. He sincerely hoped that wasn't the case.

"Whatever this is; it's important. I need to contact Ma and Pa," whispered Jiraiya before marching off to deal with whatever was causing the disturbance.

TBC

A.N. And there you have it, Chapter 18. A very Sasori-centric chapter with not as much humor as the previous one, but I hope you guys liked it. Oh, and as you can see, the Kyokutanna is based on Iron Man with a hint of Extremis. And no, I don't own that either. Not only that, but Minato and Kushina's fuinjutsu workshop is also based on Iron Ma; specifically Tony Stark's hi-tech garage with all the fancy, state-of-the-art interfaces and holograms and stuff. Rei is obviously a Jarvis you guys are puzzled at the fact that sealing techniques can do all of that, I just want to warn you before hand; in my fic universe, fuinjutsu can basically do almost anything, as long as the user is advanced enough.

Anyways, please read and review! Or else!


	20. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: Good news guys. I've just bought the rights to Naruto from Mr. Masashi Kishimoto himse-...(gets held at gunpoint), okay, okay! I don't own Naruto! Are you happy now!

Author's Note: I was gonna wait till the weekend to upload this chapter, but since I'm graduatiing TOMORROW!(oh damn, oh damn, oh damn), I decided that this would be the last chapter I ever submit as a high school student. So...enjoy.

Chapter 19: First Intervention

A blue comet plummeted from the sky, approaching the ground at over seven times the speed of sound. When it got closer and closer to the surface, the blue comet, otherwise known as Akasuna no Sasori, decelerated before making a sharp turn until he was flying parallel to the ground.

Slowing down even further, the armored puppeteer flew into a dense forest before expertly swerving and weaving his way through the canopy of trees, showing off his suit's maneuverability. Feeling daring, Sasori started to corkscrew in a showy spiraling motion before cutting off his chakra thrusters and leaping unto the nearest tree branch.

The _Kyokutanna_ was surprisingly lightweight despite its appearance, allowing Sasori to gracefully push off of the tree branch and hop to the next tree. The Suna missing-nin continued tree hopping for a short while before blasting off with a burst of chakra from his feet.

The chakra burst took him far above the forest, where the puppet master did a few flips and turns in mid-air for fun. After he was done with that, Sasori diverted more chakra to his boosters, accelerating again before vanishing from view in a flicker of blue.

He reappeared a few miles away, in the middle of a nomadic camp turned battlefield. Mindful of the chaos around him, the interventionist selected his next target before charging at maximum velocity.

* * *

><p>Flashback:<p>

_"What do you mean by "the practical use of ninjutsu"_,_ huh, Choetsu-san?" questioned Nagato. Choetsu's previous statement had puzzled him somewhat. They were discussing how true peace could be obtained, and the Rikudou Hiraishin said that the only way to permanently remove conflict from the world was to destroy the root of all conflicts; the concept known as scarcity._

_When the red-haired Uzumaki had asked how exactly they were to remove something like scarcity, the blonde-haired time traveler had simply given a vague answer, "the practical use of ninjutsu". What was the practical use of ninjutsu, and why was it so important?_

_He got his answer almost immediately._

_"Shinobi nowadays are blind to the real potential of ninjutsu; they see it in a very limited light," began Choetsu, "If they could just escape from this narrow vision, then peace could be obtained."_

_Konan rose her eyebrows at this before replying, "What do you mean by that, Choetsu-san? How are we blind to the real potential of ninjutsu, as you put it? Are we using our techniques inefficiently? Is there something wrong with how we perform jutsus?" _

_Choetsu shook his head, "No. It's not about how you use ninjutsu, or about inefficiency. It's about WHAT you use it for. In fact, what you just said further reinforces my point. Today, ninjutsu is used solely for the purpose of killing. Techniques are ranked not only by the difficulty in learning them, but by how effective they are at destroying others. And that is the fundamental flaw in modern shinobi thinking."_

_"What do you mean? What else could you use ninjutsu for?" asked Nagato._

_"A hell of a lot of things, actually! My favorite is washing your ass with Water Release ninjutsu, but sometimes, after a really big one where I need extra thoroughness, I like to use Du-…"_

_"WE DIDN'T NEED TO HEAR THAT, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! Lalalalalalalalala, I can't hear you, I can't hear you, lalalalalalala!" yelled Nagato while covering his ears. At seeing his fellow Rinnegan-user in this state, Choetsu started laughing his ass off._

_"As much as I like seeing Nagato-chan make a fool out of himself, hehehe," said Choetus after recovering from his laughing fit, "I think its best we move on."_

_"Give us a serious answer first, bastard!"_

_"Okay, okay, geez; I can never get any love around here," muttered Choetsu with his hands held out in front of him, defensively, "But before I tell you guys all about the cool things you can really do with ninjutsu, I need to clarify a few things first. "_

_"Like what?" asked Konan._

_"Well, for one thing, removing scarcity, by itself, doesn't create true peace," continued Choetsu, "It is just one phase in a process. More specifically, removing scarcity is meant to stabilize an already existing peace, so that it can become perpetual and self-sustaining; at least theoretically. But removing scarcity doesn't stop people from fighting; it just stops them from HAVING to fight. It makes conflict unnecessary, but it doesn't quash the desire for conflict. Do you get what I'm saying?"_

_"I…I think I understand," said Nagato, "Like for example; even if you remove scarcity, if people still hate each other, then they'll still fight. Am I right?"_

_"Got it in one, Volcano-chan!" exclaimed the Kamikage, causing Nagato to grumble audibly at his unwanted nickname, "That's why, before you remove scarcity, you have to abolish people's hatred first. One cannot exist without the other. If you remove hatred but not scarcity, people will stop fighting temporarily, but eventually, conflict will erupt again due to scarce resources. If you remove scarcity but not hatred, people will no longer have to fight, but they will still fight because they hate each other. The only way to create true peace is by removing both."_

_"But how do you do that?" inquired Konan, "You said that the practical use of ninjutsu was the only way to remove scarcity. That's a vague answer, but at least it's an answer. You haven't explained to us how to remove hatred."_

_"I'm getting to that," continued the time-displaced Rikudou, "You see, the plan I used to create true peace in my original universe was a three step plan. Going backwards, the last step was to remove scarcity, in order to stabilize the new peace. The second step was to remove hatred, ending people's desire to fight and kill each other, therefore creating the new peace. And finally, or firstly, step one was to prepare the world for the next two steps. In other words, setting the stage for the new peace."_

_"Explain, please."_

_"Step one, or phase one, or turn one, or stage one, or part one, or whatever you wanna call it, is meant to bring about the conditions in which hatred can be remove, allowing step two to take place. This is where I tell you how to remove hatred."_

_"Hatred is an abstract existence," continued Choetsu, "You can't destroy it with a fist, or a kunai, or a jutsu; well, at least not most jutsus. But you can destroy it with another abstract idea. But hatred is everywhere; it's ubiquitous. To destroy it, you have to gather it all up and focus it on something; an object, or an idea, or even a person."_

_"Wait, hold on. You're treating hatred like it's a physical substance that can be concentrated in one area. That…that doesn't make any sense," interjected Nagato._

_"It's just a metaphor; don't worry about it, Nagato-chan. Think about it in this way; to focus hatred on something, you have to get a lot of people to hate and despise it. To focus all the hatred in the world on something, you have to get the entire world to hate and despise it. And once all of that hatred and negative emotion is concentrated on one person or object, you just have to sacrifice that person or object in a certain way, and then that hatred, all of that hatred, is removed. Does that make sense to you guys?"_

_"I think I'm starting to get it more, but could you give us an example?" inquired Konan. When the S-Rank angel had given this request, Choetsu's eyes widened momentarily before a melancholic expression made its way on his normally exuberant face. This puzzled the three Hoshikuzu members, and Konan wondered if she should have asked the question at all._

_But as soon as it had arrived, the Rikudou Hiraishin's sad look had gone away. He replied, "Yeah, I…I guess I can give you an example. I'll tell you a story actually. And it will explain everything."_

_"There once was a beautiful woman; practically a goddess in mortal form," continued Choetsu, "She was intelligent, cunning, strong-willed, but at the same time, the kindest, most peaceful, and most well-mannered creature to ever walk the Earth. She craved peace like a man dying of thirst craved water. But one day…she conquered the entire world, and became its Empress. A Demon Empress._

"_She was the most diabolical, most insidious, and most tyrannical ruler in all of history. Everyone in the world hated her; even her enforcers only followed her out of fear. But one day, a hero appeared. He rebelled against the Empress and her forces, and the people of the world saw him as a Messiah. And eventually, this hero succeeded in assassinating the Empress herself, causing her Empire to collapse in the aftermath. "_

"_Normally, when a regime collapses in a violent matter, this is usually bad for the people, no matter how oppressive the regime was. It typically results in power vacuums, and wars, and general chaos. But the Empress's killer; the hero who was seen as a Messiah by the entire world, was there to pick up the pieces. It was thanks to his actions that the world didn't collapse into ruin after the Empress's death. And with her dead, all of that hatred that had been focused on her, coming from all of the people of the world…was now gone. And then the peace came after."_

"_And that's the story," finished the Shodai Kamikage._

"_It's a beautiful story, although tragic," said Konan, "What puzzles me though is how a peaceful and well-mannered creature like this woman could become a Demon Empress."_

"_Oh, that. Well, it's kind of a long story, so for the sake of time I decided to skip that part," replied Choetsu, "But anyways, back to the point I was trying to make. The only way to focus the world's hatred on a single point is to give it a common enemy, like the Empress was to the people of her world. By giving the people a common enemy, it unites their wills together, and by uniting their wills together, the world's hatred can be directed. And that's what step one of the plan is in a nutshell."_

"_Okay, so let me get this straight," interjected Nagato, "Your master plan to obtain true peace involves three steps. The first step is to unite the will of the world by giving them a common enemy. This sets the stage for the next two steps. The second step is to destroy this common enemy so that all of the hatred focused on it can be removed from the world, therefore creating peace. And finally, the last step is to remove scarcity through the "practical use of ninjutsu", whatever that is, which stabilizes the peace and makes it self-sustaining. And that's how true peace is obtained."_

"_But what I want to know," said Konan, "is how Hoshikuzu factors into all of this. What exactly is our purpose, and our mission?"_

"_Oh, that's simple," replied Choetsu, "By undertaking missions of armed intervention in the world…you will become that common enemy."_

Flashback End

* * *

><p>As Sasori charged forward before punching a bandaged man about to rape a girl with wavy brown locks, sending the shinobi mercenary flying away, he thought about when Choetsu had first explained the purpose of Hoshikuzu. They were all shocked when the true Rikudou had said that they would become the world's common enemy, and the implications this had.<p>

'_We're essentially going to become sacrificial lambs_,' mused Sasori as he turned around and vaporized an attacking mercenary with a chakra blast from the circle on his palm, _'And the funny thing is that we're all okay with that; all three of us. Nagato and Konan don't care that they're going to die, as long as they can create a true, lasting peace, and I don't care what happens to me, as long as I don't have to experience Choetsu-sama's wrath ever again_.'

Sasori fired another chakra blast from his other palm, vaporizing an enemy charging at him from the opposite direction, before making an about-face and killing another mercenary with blasts from both palms.

'_I guess that's how I ended up here, intervening in a mercenary raid that I really shouldn't be involved with. I don't see how this makes me a common enemy though, but Choetsu-sama said that would become more apparent later on._'

Sasori made another 180˚ before crossing his arms, left over right, before blasting two more mercenaries. Then, the armored puppeteer hovered into the air while doing a little spin, before stretching out his arms and releasing prolonged beams of chakra from each palm. The chakra beams swept over a crowd of hapless shinobi, vaporizing them instantly.

While still hovering in mid-air, the S-Rank missing-nin unlocked a set of armor packs on his suit's rear, revealing an arsenal of _Bakuton_ micro-missiles. The tiny guided projectiles were about the size of a pebble each, and were made out of the same explosive clay material used by the missing Iwa-nin Deidara.

The Red Sands released a barrage of these Bakuton micro-missiles, guiding them to their targets via chakra string. Although each missile could detonate with the force of an exploding tag, in order to reduce collateral damage Sasori opted to rely on their kinetic energy and penetration.

The tiny, white projectiles trailed by transparent, azure lines rained down on the opposition, sniping each and every one and massacring them in droves. Dozens were wiped out in an instant, as many of them failed to react in time. Those that managed to react attempted to evade the micro-missiles by jumping or dodging, but the homing projectiles were simply relentless in their guided pursuit. One ninja even tried to escape via _Shunshin no Jutsu_, but a missile intercepted him in mid-shunshin.

Even the mercenaries raiding inside of the tents were unsafe, as the micro-missiles simply pierced through the tents and killed them. One highly fortunate woman who was just about to be knifed by a kunoichi in her own tent was saved by this.

After the initial barrage had ended, after about fourteen seconds, Sasori simply remained hovering in mid-air while admiring his handiwork. The entire camp had been cleansed of the shinobi mercenaries attacking it, and not a single nomad was harmed in his assault.

Although it seemed like all of the enemies had been wiped out, it wasn't long before two new blips appeared on Sasori's chakra radar.

* * *

><p>The first blip was none other than Jiraiya of the Sannin himself. The white-haired super pervert was currently observing the entire scene from a lofty hiding spot overlooking the nomad's camp. While attending to his "research", the Toad Sage had suddenly detected a presence that seemed to be drawing upon natural energy.<p>

Alarmed by this development, Jiraiya followed this presence here, to a camp full of nomads being attacked by shinobi mercenaries; individuals whom Jiraiya considered the scum of the Earth. He arrived to find that the presence he had been following was not the dreaded possibility of a Sage Mode Orochimaru as he had feared, but rather, a strange, metallic humanoid with six mechanical wings and a bright, glowing circle of blue light on its chest.

As soon as it had arrived, the metallic humanoid that had been drawing upon natural energy immediately intervened in the conflict, eliminating the camp raiders with mechanical efficiency and ruthlessness. And the Yondaime's sensei simply watched in awe, having never seen anything like this before in his life. Jiraiya mentally decided to remain still and observe for a little bit longer, safely ensconced in his hiding spot.

He was blissfully unaware that Sasori already knew he was there.

* * *

><p>The second blip came in the form of a thrown kunai, which was heading straight for Sasori. The puppet master instinctively brought up an arm to block the thrown projectile, but it was an unnecessary action as an invisible field seemed to manifest at the impact point, stopping the kunai's momentum.<p>

That was followed shortly by an explosion as the tag wrapped around the kunai's hilt immediately detonated, obscuring the armored shinobi in smoke. The shinobi who had thrown the kunai was none other than the same, bandaged man that Sasori had first punched upon arriving at the scene. The man, Akito, had somehow survived the blow, but looked visibly wounded.

Akito began a sequence of hand seals, but the world would never know what jutsu he was going to cast, as a blast of chakra burst from the smoke. Akito ended his seal sequence before doing a barrel roll to dodge the chakra blast. Unfortunately for him, the blast had impacted near enough to him that the resulting explosion sent Akito tumbling away.

When he stopped rolling, the bandaged man was left on his back, panting from pain and exhaustion. He tried to get up, but was suddenly blinded by a blue flash before a weight slammed into his torso, causing excruciating pain to flare up in his entire body. Opening his eyes, the last thing he saw was Kyokutanna Mode Sasori with his glowing blue palm embedded in Akito's chest, before a massive explosion engulfed the two figures.

The explosion was visible throughout the entire camp, and the nomads, no longer under attack, shivered while hoping that whoever had caused the blast was friendly. Their hopes were confirmed as a figure strutted out of the smoke. It was the same mechanical angel that had saved them from the attacking mercenaries in the first place.

As Sasori slowly walked towards the crowd of nomads, they watched him in a mixture of awe and worship. From their perspective, it had seemed like the armored being had descended from Heaven itself to become their salvation.

When the Suna missing-nin eventually found himself in the middle of the crowd, he turned his head, looking around and surveying the various nomads gazing at him. The suit registered the faces of every individual, making sure that enemies were no longer present. It was then that the Kyokutanna registered another blip in Sasori's peripheral vision, before a giant Fuma shuriken came barreling out of nowhere, heading straight for the puppeteer.

Without so much as turning his head, Sasori simply raised one arm before firing a blast of chakra. The chakra blast intercepted and vaporized the incoming Fuma shuriken just before it hit the armored redhead, causing a cloud of smoke and shrapnel to briefly engulf him. Then, a kunai-sized Bakuton torpedo flew out of the smoke, fired from Sasori's wrist. It impacted at the location from where the Fuma shuriken had been thrown before exploding.

After making one last sweep with his chakra radar, Sasori finally confirmed that all of the shinobi mercenaries had been killed. He powered down the suit's weapons and was just about to take off when one of the nomads approached him.

It was a teenage girl with wavy, brown hair; the very first nomad he had saved upon his arrival. Now, the nomad girl was carrying in her arms, a baby wrapped in swaddling cloth. She approached him tentatively, but her gratitude was easily visible.

"Thank you for saving me, and my people. We are forever in your debt," said the girl respectfully while bowing to him, "But, if you don't mind me asking…who are you?"

From behind his sleek, silvery mask, Sasori simply stared at her blankly for a moment before replying in a deep, modulated voice, "Who am I? Well, I'm no one…you could say I'm just a messenger. That's who I am."

After saying this, the puppet master powered up the chakra thrusters in his palms and soles before ascending slowly, hovering in mid-air once more. Before he could blast off completely, the nomadic teenage girl addressed him again, "A messenger of who, exactly?"

"I am the messenger of a certain organization. You may call us…Hoshikuzu. We…are the Salvation," declared Sasori before accelerating and vanishing in a flicker of azure.

As she watched the angelic metalloid in awe as he return to the lofty heavens from which he had come from, Kimi whispered softly to herself, "Hoshikuzu, huh?"

* * *

><p>Jiraiya watched in distress as the armored natural energy user he had been observing took off from the camp and flew up towards the sky. He couldn't let the mechanical being get away, at least not without a tracking seal on him. Even if he wasn't Orochimaru (then again, there was still the unlikely possibility that it was Jiraiya's former teammate under the suit, but the Toad Sage doubted it since the Snake Sannin would never save a bunch of simple nomads), it was still a good idea to keep tabs on this new entity, especially since it could somehow draw upon the power of nature.<p>

Thankfully, although the armored interventionist had seemingly flickered out of view when it had taken off and accelerated, to the eyes of a Sannin it was only mildly difficult to track its movement. It was also rather convenient that Jiraiya had been gathering natural energy in his hiding spot since the entire scene had begun.

Quickly, before his mark could get too far away, Jiraiya bit his thumb, drawing blood which he smeared on the palm of his left hand. Forming a set of hand seals at blinding speeds, the Hokage's old master slammed his left palm against the ground, causing a sealing array to appear right before a cloud of white smoke burst outwards and enveloped the entire area.

From the cloud of smoke leaped Jiraiya with tremendous momentum, but there was a change. Jiraiya's body structure was now more toad-like, and various regions of his skin were covered in warts, including many on his nose. His hair had grown longer, and there now was a hairy white goatee covering his chin. The red lines running down from his eyes became thicker and more prominent, and his eyes themselves had shifted to an amber-color with black bars replacing the pupils.

On his shoulders were two toads; the _Nii Dai Sennin_, or Two Great Sages of Mt. Myobuku. The first, on his right shoulder, was Fukusaku; a wrinkled green toad with white hair and a brown cloak. The second, on his left, was Fukusaku's wife Shima; a light, greenish-yellow toad with the top of her head being bumpy and purple. She had on a black cloak.

This was the illustrious Sage Mode.

* * *

><p>Uchiha Itachi was faced with a daunting decision as he looked down the long, dark, foreboding hallway leading to Shimura Danzo's room. Of course, the whole situation seemed suspicious, with the word "trap" written all over it; why else would the entire base be evacuated while Danzo remained behind. But Itachi had no time to ponder this. He needed to act now.<p>

But the question was; how to act? He felt the weight of the custom-made _Hiraishin_ kunai held in his hand. It was given to him for the sole purpose of this mission. His orders were to locate Danzo, then throw the kunai so that Minato-sensei could come and assassinate the Leaf traitor himself.

Of course, now that he knew that Danzo was behind the door sitting right in front of him, Itachi was starting to feel hesitation in following his orders; something that had never happened before. He blamed it entirely on the usually suppressed lust for vengeance when it came to Danzo that Itachi kept locked up within himself.

But now that the only thing standing between him and getting revenge for Shisui's death was a flimsy, wooden door, the Uchiha prodigy was starting to feel the bloodlust well up inside, seething and festering, ready to burst. He so very much wanted to charge into Danzo's room, cut off all of his limbs before trapping him in _Tsukuyomi_, and then forcing him to experience the feeling of getting an eyeball painfully plucked from his eyelid over and over again for 72 excruciating hours.

But orders were orders, and if there was anything that Itachi was, at the very core of his being, he was definitely loyal. So, with a reluctant heart, the ANBU Commander of Konoha threw a tri-pronged kunai at Danzo's door.

At the exact same instant that the special projectile hit its mark, a flash of yellow erupted on the other side, illuminating the room behind the door.

Finally, the Yondaime has arrived.

* * *

><p>"What am I looking at, Rei?" asked Namikaze Kushina as the mother of two examined a floating hologram. The hologram was a representation of one of the seals found in Uchiha Kagami's scroll, and it was currently stumping the <em>fuinjutsu<em> mistress. She had never seen anything like it.

"I have no clue, master," replied the artificial intelligence. Apparently, Rei had never seen anything like it either.

"Nothing, nothing at all? Have you search that humongous database that Minato installed in you? There has to be something there," said Kushina as she swiveled the holographic representation around with a wave of her hand. She was trying to look at it from different angles, but even that was proving futile.

"Nope, nothing; I'm drawing a complete blank."

"What good are you then!"

"Uhh…moral support," answered the A.I. cheekily.

Kushina simply rolled her eyes at this before saying, "I don't need moral support right now; I need answers! Hmm, let's see…hey Rei-chan; do you think you could blow up this hologram by several magnifications. I want to get a bigger view of it."

Rei did just that, enlarging the complex, circular sealing array until it had gone from being small enough to fit in Kushina's palm to being as wide as a good-size window. Kushina inspected the strange seal again while using her finger to rearrange bits and pieces of it.

"That's better, but do you think you could get rid of all of the extra add-ons. Things like limiters, parameter sets, functional quotients, and the like. When you're done with it, all I want left is the very core of this thing. Every seal should have a fundamental core that tells exactly what the seal is meant to do. This one should be no different," said Kushina.

Following the redhead's command, Rei removed any peripheral characters to the seal that weren't fundamental aspects of the seal itself. When she was done, the massive array was striped to the bare-bones, leaving nothing left but an atom-esque structure in the middle surrounded by spiraling line designs.

Kushina scrutinized the seal's core closely, "What is this? I've never…it doesn't…I…I need you to run a search on fuinjutsu cores for me, Rei-chan. Think you can do that? See if anything in the database matches this."

The holographic woman simply nodded before another hard light screen manifested in front of Kushina. It had a list of different sealing cores that corresponded to different actions. The A.I. started shuffling through the list while Kushina waited in anticipation.

'_Come on, it has to be one of these. Every fundamental sealing core in existence is registered somewhere in Rei's database. It has to match one of these_.'

When the A.I. came to the end of her search and found herself fruitless, Rei simply shook her head, causing Kushina to gape in disbelief.

"I-I don't believe it. It…it just can't be," muttered Kushina in bewilderment, "Every possible iteration of a sealing core should be stored somewhere in the database. Wha-what is this thing?"

* * *

><p>"Thanks for having me, Minato-kun," said the long-haired russet sitting across from him. Looking up from the dwindling paperwork on his desk (oh how he loved <em>kage bunshin<em>), Minato greeted his female guest with a smile.

"It was my pleasure, Mei-chan!" replied the Hokage warmly. His guest, a kunoichi named Terumi Mei, was the leader of one of the more powerful factions in Kiri's recent civil war; more specifically, the very faction that the Yondaime had decided to support. It was thanks to Konoha's help and Mei's fantastic leadership that her faction obtained victory, allowing Mei to assume the position of Godaime Mizukage; a fact that he had only been recently informed of, by the newly instated Water Shadow herself. This was the reason for the meeting, after all.

"I can't thank you enough; without you backing me, I'm not sure that the civil war could have been won so quickly," said the Mizukage.

"And to think; you guys have been fighting it out amongst yourselves since Yagura committed suicide twelve years ago. Although, I'm worried about Kumo's response; the faction they supported, the one led by Momochi Zabuza, lost to yours several months ago, didn't they. The Cloud must not be very happy right now."

"They sure aren't. Zabuza's now a missing-nin to boot; pursued relentlessly by the very same hunter-nin he used to fight alongside," said Mei.

"That incident with Zabuza, along with the attempted abduction of my daughter and the Hyuuga heiress about a month ago have really soured our relations with Kumogakure, despite the fact that the Raikage hadn't authorized the kidnappings" said Minato darkly, "I fear that another war may erupt."

The dual bloodline-wielder made a face before replying, "Pshh; as if. There won't be any major world wars between the Five Nations anytime soon. Suna is your ally and Kiri will soon be in a binding treaty with Konoha, if I have anything to say about it. And as the legendary _Kiiroi Senko_, you're pretty much the ultimate war deterrent, so both Kumo and Iwa are still too terrified of you to do anything drastic."

"Yeah, but treaties aren't absolute. I'm just preparing for the worst."

"Please, let's not talk about potential conflicts right now," said Mei dismissively, "I've just ended a vicious civil war in my homeland, and I'd rather focus on other things besides more people killing other people for no good reason."

"Alright, my apologies," said Minato with a grin, "What would you like to discuss then, Mizukage-dono?"

"Oh the usual, Hokage-dono," answered Mei in a playful tone, "We can discuss ways that the Mist could ever possibly repay you for your support, or we can talk about juicy intel on Kumo and/or Iwa forces, or we can gossip about your current relationship with Kushina-san..."

"Yes to the first, yes to the second, but I'm afraid the last one is non-negotiable. Kushina and I are married, Mei; we have a family with two kids, remember?"

"So!"

"Sigh, for the last time…you're not going to convince me to get a divorce and run away with you to Kiri."

Mei simply gave a sigh with a dreamy look on her face before replying, "Come on, a girl can dream, can't she. And considering how attractive the catch is, well…it's definitely worth the effort."

* * *

><p>Hoshino Daisuke tapped his foot impulsively as he and his team waited outside the Hokage's office. The impatient young <em>genin<em> had gotten tired of waiting for the Hokage, and was just on the verge of bursting into the office and giving the Yondaime a piece of his mind.

Of course, the saner, less impulse-driven aspect of his mind was currently holding its ground, but it wouldn't be long before he snapped. It had already been _FIVE WHOLE MINUTES_! That was like an eternity, as far as Daisuke was concerned.

Of course, the threat of his sensei, Uchiha Yosho, berating him if he decided to act on his lack of patience was another incentive to remain still. And of course, there was always his cute but rather terrifying teammate, Haruno Sakura, and her breathtaking anger management issues when it came to him.

"Shut up, Daisuke-baka! Your incessant foot tapping is really getting on my nerves!" raged the intelligent pinkette. In response, her brown-haired teammate blew a raspberry at her before increasing the frequency of his constant foot tapping. The cherry blossom girl retaliated by grabbing Daisuke by the neck of his white, red-striped track suit, and was just about to thump him on the top of his head when the door to the Hokage's room opened.

Sakura quickly let go of her teammate, and had the gall to look sheepish as a woman with long, russet hair and a blue dress walked out of the office. The woman, tailed by two bodyguards with Mist forehead protectors, smiled at them before continuing on her way.

Next to her, Daisuke had a blush and a dreamy expression on his face, while a bit of drool dripped from the corner of his mouth. This annoyed Sakura greatly for some reason, so she decided to finish what she started by thumping him on the head, rousing the twelve-year old boy from his stupor.

"Oww! What the hell was that for, you pink-haired banshee!" cried Daisuke while rubbing his unruly, brown hair.

"For staring at that woman in a perverted fashion! And don't try to deny it; I saw that look on your face!"

"Tch, someone sounds jealous. You're probably just butthurt 'cuz you'll never have a rack that big!" taunted Daisuke, causing a vein to pop in Sakura's temple.

'_Gah! The nerve of this idiot. Why couldn't I have been on a team with Sasuke-kun! Instead, that bitch Kurama gets to be on his team, and she isn't even interested in him_,' thought Sakura, while her inner self raged inwardly, '_**She has to be a lesbian! There's no way a straight girl can't be attracted to Sasuke-kun, shannaro!**_'

Outwardly, the twelve-year old girl screamed, "AS IF, YOU MORON!" before punching him in the face. Their Uchiha sensei simply sighed at his two students' antics while their third teammate, Yamada Jiro rolled his eyes.

Turning to his white-haired instructor, Jiro asks, "Who was that woman who just walked out of Hokage-sama's office? Do you know, Yosho-sensei?"

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, Jiro-kun," said Yosho, "That was Terumi Mei, the newly instated Mizukage of Kirigakure, which makes her the first female kage in history."

"Wait! You mean she has the same rank as Hokage-sama! No way; I didn't know girl ninjas could get that powerful!" interjected Daisuke loudly.

"Now, now, Daisuke-kun," admonished Yosho, "That's not a very nice thing to say. You should know that many of the most powerful individuals in history were females. Just look at Lady Tsunade of the Sannin; a perfect example right there."

"Yeah, baka! Girls can be tough too!" shrieked Sakura.

"Don't forget scary," muttered Daisuke under his breath. It proved futile, however, as his pink-haired teammate managed to hear him anyways.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY, DAISUKE-BAKA!"

Before another scuffle between the two teammates could erupt, a voice from the Hokage's office called out to them, to Yosho and Jiro's relief.

"You can come in now, Yosho-san. Bring your team with you."

Yosho nodded to his three students before opening the door and leading them into the office. Once inside, they were all met by the sight of Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage and hands down most powerful shinobi in the entire Land of Fire, beaming at them from behind his desk. His elbows were resting on the desk, and his hands and fingers were clasped together beneath his chin in a classic thinking pose.

"Welcome, Team 6! I'm guessing that the last mission was a success," greeted the Hokage warmly.

"Of course, my lord; Team 6 has successfully captured the runaway cat Tora and returned it to its owner, the Daimyo's wife, with no major complications," answered Yosho in a professional tone, while his students grumbled behind him. This had been the sixth time this week that they were forced to chase after Tora, and they were sick of it.

Team 6 had basically become the go-to squad for Tora missions, ever since Team 7 left on their first C-Rank to the Land of Waves; a mission they had yet to return from.

"Excellent, good work team. Your paychecks will be sent to you in the usual manner, of course," said Minato, "As for your next mission, well; you have three choices to decide from. There's painting old man Iwamatsu's picket fence, cow-herding, or reading children's novels to the kids at Konoha Libra-…"

"NOOOOO! No more D-Rank missions!" exclaimed Daisuke while shaking his head furiously, "Give us a C-Rank like the one you gave Team 7!"

"You idiot! Show some respect for Hokage-sama!" shrieked Sakura before bonking her boisterous teammate on the head.

'_It looks like it's that time again_,' mused Minato with an outward sigh, '_The question is; should I acquiesce and give them the C-Rank, or keep them on lower-ranked missions for a little bit longer. Ah well, why not; they've already been doing D-Ranks for a pretty long time anyways, and they look like they're ready_.'

"Its fine, Sakura-chan; Daisuke has a good point, anyways," said the Yondaime, causing both genin to go bug-eyed, "I actually have a C-Rank mission for you three that I'm fairly confident you'll be able to handle."

The response was humorous. Daisuke had this look of wonder on his face, and Minato could have sworn he saw sparkles in his eyes for a brief second. Sakura and Jiro were both gaping, while their Uchiha sensei was chuckling in the background. Minato smiled fondly; Yosho wasn't as stuck-up or arrogant as the other members of his clan, and held within him much wisdom, on account of his old age. It was one of the reasons why he was the only Uchiha in recent history to take up a genin team.

"Now, before any of you explode in anticipation," continued Minato, "Let me explain to you the mission I have on hand. It's a simple C-Rank, so there won't be any expected shinobi encounters on the mission. All you have to do is deliver a few key packages from Nikko Inn Town to a small farming village near the Land of Fire's border with the Land of Rice Paddies."

From on his desk, the Hokage pulled out a manila envelop and gestured for Yosho to approach him, "Here, take this Yosho; it's a dossier with more details on your mission."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," said the aged _jonin _before taking the envelop and walking away, his three speechless genin in tow. After Team 6 had left the room, however, Minato remembered something important.

'_Wait, the Land of Rice Paddies. Isn't that where_…' thought Minato before being interrupted by a tugging on his consciousness, alerting to him that the Hiraishin kunai he had given to his ANBU Commander had been triggered. With no time to complete and act upon his thoughts, Minato immediately flashed away with his signature Flying Thunder God technique, leaving the office room completely empty.

He had an old war hawk to finish off.

* * *

><p>"I've been meaning to ask this earlier, but," began the bridge builder Tazuna, "Why are you still here when I lied about the mission?"<p>

The individual to whom his question was addressed to was Hatake Kakashi himself, who was doing one-finger push-ups with both Tazuna and Kurama sitting on top of him. The silver-haired jonin was trying to gauge how much of his strength had returned to him, and from the looks of it, he was almost back to tip-top shape.

"It's simple; to abandon one's duty is the opposite of courage," replied Kakashi, "And below courage…there is nothing. That is a quote from one of our former Hokage's. These very words represent our ninja way. We don't simply take on missions because of money alone. We're more than that."

Kurama nodded firmly at her sensei's words, '_That sounds like something daddy would say._'

"My body is just about ready to fight again," whispered Kakashi to himself while staring intently at the palm of his right hand.

* * *

><p>Zabuza glared at the red apple in his right palm, almost as if it was the embodiment of Kakashi himself, before squeezing it with all of his force. Zabuza's grip crushed the apple, causing juices and apple fragments to burst in his hand.<p>

"It looks like you're almost better," said a voice from the doorway of the room he was in. Looking up, Zabuza found himself face to face with his apprentice, Haku. He, or was it she now, was wearing the same battle garments she always had on, but they were modified a bit to reveal less...skin, particularly from Haku's rather well-endowed chest region.

Zabuza was still having an incredibly difficult and rather embarrassing time of having to adjust to the new, gender-swapped Haku; he had to pinch himself numerous times, in the belief that all of this absurdity was nothing but a dream. It especially didn't help that Haku had no idea whatsoever of how she had turned into a girl. All she remembered was picking herbs in the woods, everything suddenly going black, and then waking up on the forest floor as a female.

"So, umm, Haku," began Zabuza in an awkward manner, "Did…did you get the items you were looking for."

"Ahh, y-yes, yes I did. I managed to find a good size bra in town, although its design is a little bland. But I guess beggars can't be choosers," replied Haku nervously, "It feels really strange wearing one, but it's better for combat purposes than to simply go commando. When I don't have a bra on, just running really fast makes them jiggle far too much, causing lots of chest pain."

"…"

"I-I'm sorry master; am I making you uncomfortable?"

"Oh no, I'm _completely_ at ease when we talk about this. It doesn't bother me _at all_! No sir." said Zabuza, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"M-my apologies. Maybe we should discuss something else," said Haku with a sigh, "I've been studying a new chakra control technique. It's actually quite fascinating."

"Really, what does it involve? Do you think I could learn it?"

"I…highly doubt that, Zabuza-sama," replied Haku, with a sheepish look.

Suspicious, Zabuza asked, "Why not?"

"Well, you see…it's actually a technique developed by L-Lady Tsunade of the Sannin. The basic gist of the technique is, umm, to be able to support your b-breasts with chakra, that way you don't have to wear a…to wear a stifling bra in combat," explained Haku, with a glaring blush on her face.

There was an awkward silence after Haku's statement, in which Zabuza simply blinked at his apprentice repeatedly with a comical look on his face. If it weren't for the bandages covering his jaw, the swordsman would probably be gaping.

"_Yeahhhhhhhh_, I really, really, _really_ didn't need to know that. Let's leave already before you start creeping me out even more, Haku," said Zabuza.

"Y-yes, I agree, but…you do know that my face is up here, master," said Haku while pointing to the aforementioned body part, "I'm not sure if you noticed this, but, you've basically been talking to my breasts this whole conversation."

"…"

"Fuck it!" roared Zabuza while getting up, "Let's just go!"

* * *

><p>"So, Sasuke-teme," said Naruto while balancing on top of one of the tallest trees in the entire forest, "Is there any particular reason why you've asked me to come out here with you, <em>alone<em>? I mean, I've always suspected that you were batting for the other team, but I didn't thing you would be bold enough to drag me out to a secluded area and rape me. What would your legion of fangirls say back home!"

"Shut up, dobe! That's not what this is about!" snapped Sasuke, from his perch on top of a tree across from Naruto's, "I am not gay, and I am not in any way planning to rape you!"

Naruto shrugged, "Hmph, could've fooled me. So, spill it, why'd you drag me out here?"

Sasuke's face hardened into one of complete seriousness before he answered, "Fight me!"

Naruto's eyes widened at this, "W-What, are you insane? Why would you…at a time like this? WAIT! I know where this is going!"

"Huh?"

"Seeing me fight before at the lake, you've started getting jealous of my skills. So, to make yourself feel better, you've decided to challenge me to a fight, and when you lose, and you will, you're going to get all butthurt and start brooding like an emo. And when you start brooding, you'll start thinking that Konoha is holding you back, and that you need to break ties with your love ones, which will lead you to abandoning the village and becoming a missing-nin! And then you'll go to some crazy, snake-like pedophile for training in order to sate your lust for power!"

"…"

"After you leave, I'll start blaming myself for your betrayal, which causes me to make a promise to bring you back to some girl out of guilt. Finally, I'll leave on an epic training trip for two years so I can work my butt off and get stronger, that way I can bring you back! But by then, you'll be far too twisted and evil for me to save, and I'll have a panic attack when I eventually realize that fact. Face it, Sasuke, I HAVE YOU ALL FIGURED OUT!"

As an awkward silence set in after Naruto's tirade, Sasuke mentally went over a list of possible reactions to what he had just heard. Of all of them, the raven-haired pre-teen decided to go for the classic facepalm.

"Naruto, SHUT UP! All I want…is one, friendly spar…I just wanted to see how much I've progressed in the past week. That's it! I didn't need to hear a crazy rant from you that made no sense whatsoever! I mean, I admit that I've felt a little envious of your abilities lately, and I was beyond shocked when you first revealed them, but you have to be insane to think that would be enough for me to abandon all my friends, family, and my only home."

"Oh! Why didn't you just say so!" exclaimed Naruto with a brief chuckle before vanishing in a yellow flash, causing Sasuke's eyes to bug out. Before the Uchiha heir could react, the Hokage's son reappeared behind him before karate chopping him in the back of the neck. This simple, yet effective action knocked Sasuke out like a light, sending his unconscious body plummeting off the treetop and into the forest below.

As Naruto watched and winced as his teammate's body tumbled through some branches before landing in a pile of shrubs, he began sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, "Uhh, whoops…I forgot to ask if he wanted me to hold back, hehehe."

* * *

><p>Unbeknownst to the two Leaf genin, a certain S-Rank criminal was currently observing them from a nearby hiding spot in the woods.<p>

"Psh, these two are nothing but a pair of rookie genin, no matter how talented the blonde one is," muttered Kakuzu quietly to him self, "It would be the easiest thing in the world for me to just go in there, knock the blonde out, and take them both away so I can collect a hefty bounty. Especially now that I know who they are."

Indeed; thanks to his observations, Kakuzu was able to discover the identities of the three genin students under Kakashi's tutelage. Two of them, the blonde boy and the red-haired girl, were the son and daughter respectively of Konoha's Yondaime Hokage, and the third, a raven-haired pre-teen, was the youngest son of the Uchiha clan head. All three would fetch copious amounts of ransom money, if Kakuzu could only capture them.

"But, of course, "that" bastard won't let me," grumbled the former Taki-nin, "I can't attack…not until the time is right."

Flashback:

_It had taken Kakuzu a full day to figure out Hatake Kakashi's ruse, a fact that he was not proud of at all. Of course, genjutsu feints were never his strong points, even after a century's worth of experience, but still; how could he not remember that there was no such poison in the world that could cause the effect that Kakashi had shown him!_

_He felt like an incompetent rookie, fresh out of the academy. But he was Kakuzu! Kakuzu of the Earth Grudge Fear; the most fearsome criminal in Takigakure history, the man who fought the Shodai Hokage, and the shinobi who had obtained a form of immortality and mastered all five elements! How could he fall for such a trick?_

_In his rage, the bounty hunter had decided to kill Kakashi in the most excruciatingly brutal manner possible, before taking his decapitated head with him to collect the massive bounty on the Copy-nin._

_He was just on his way to do exactly that, when the S-Rank missing-nin had a fateful encounter with "him"._

_"Who the hell are you?" inquired Kakuzu of the white cloaked figure standing in front of him. From beneath his hood, Kakuzu could only make out a jaw with pale, alabaster skin, and spiky blonde hair that seemed familiar somehow._

_"Me? I'm the Rikudou Hiraishin. Nice to meet you," answered the cloaked man._

_"Really? Any relation to the Rikudou Sennin of myth?" was Kakuzu's reply._

_"Yeah, we're old pals. I used to play him in hyper-dimensional poker all the time."_

_"Ah I see. Now, if you would be so kind as to get out of my way before I kill you," threatened Kakuzu with a flare of killing intent. His gruff, almost demonic voice, combined with his imposing appearance would be enough to intimidate almost anybody, but the Rikudou Hiraishin wasn't just anybody._

_"Hmm, lemme think about it…NO!"_

_Kakuzu chuckled at the cloaked man's bold refusal of his demand, before giving his response, "Ahh, you've got a death wish, don't you. Do you have any idea who I am?"_

_"Of course I do!" answered the Rikudou Hiraishin forcefully, "You're the spokesperson for those annoying eye drop commercials, right? You know, "Got Red Eyes, Get Clear Eyes". Although the pay must be terrible considering that you've turned to a life of bounty hunting to make ends meet. What; are eye drops too expensive now?"_

_"…"_

_"Please, allow me to rephrase that," continued Kakuzu while ignoring the strange individual's incoherent babbling, "Don't bother moving out of my way, because I'm going to kill you anyways."_

_The next thing Choetsu knew, a black-skinned fist was suddenly barreling at his face out of nowhere. The fist, belonging to Kakuzu himself, was inching closer and closer to the tip of the Rikudou's nose, underneath the white hood. Time seemed to grind to a halt as the criminal's massive fist got within a centimeter of its target, before suddenly…_

_"AGHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed Kakuzu as he halted his own attack and collapsed to the ground. The S-Rank criminal started convulsing violently, as wild ripples bulged chaotically under his skin. And then, with an anguished groan and a grotesque bursting of fluid-that-was-most-certainly-not-blood, the former Takigakure shinobi was now dead._

_Choetsu simply stared at Kakuzu's limp body in mild shock, "Did…did he really just die from that. Wow, I didn't think he'd be so pathetic. I mean, what a pussy! That wasn't even close to one percent of my full killing intent, and not only did he die from it…HIS BODY FREAKING EXPLODED!"_

_With an expression that almost made him look disappointed, Choetsu snapped his fingers, causing purples flames to erupt behind him. From the violet inferno arose a demonic, head-like figure with a red, black, and white color scheme, a large gaping mouth, Rinnegan eyes the same color as Choetsu's own pair, and finally, the kanji for "King" on its forehead._

_"Man, the nerve of this guy, forcing me to summon the King of Hell like this. Now I have to revive him, since I still need his presence in the story. What a pain in the ass!" complained Choetsu before turning to the side, allowing the long tongue of the King of Hell to reach out and wrap around Kakuzu's limp body. _

_"You know, now that I think about it; why exactly did I choose this method of resurrection," muttered Choetsu while he stared at the Kind of Hell, "I have literally hundreds of other ways to revive a dude, and I choose one of the slowest ones. Ah well, it was probably just the first one to come to mind. It must have been those burritos. Yeah, I always subconsciously resort to Naraka Path whenever I have good burritos. Mmm, burritos, yum."_

_Using its tongue, the Kind of Hell dragged Kakuzu back into its mouth before closing it and chewing. When it was done, the demonic summon spat out the S-Rank criminal before sinking back into the flames, which disappeared shortly._

_When Kakuzu came to, he was being glared at by the same white cloaked man whose hooded face was the last thing he had seen before everything went dark._

_"Good morning, Kakuzu-chan, and happy belated and/or early birthday; my present to you is an ultimatum," said the Rikudou Hiraishin in a sickeningly cheery voice, "Do not, I repeat, do not attack or otherwise directly and/or indirectly cause any harm to come upon Hatake Kakashi or his students until Momochi Zabuza and his accomplice engage them in battle once again. If you break this rule, or even so much as think about breaking this rule…I will break you."_

Flashback End

And so, with five reluctant hearts, Kakuzu took off, leaving Naruto and an unconscious Sasuke to their own devices. He would have his chance to capture them and kill the Hatake soon; he just had to be patient. And when he was done with that, then he would search for a way to get revenge on that Rikudou Hiraishin bastard.

It was only a matter of time.

* * *

><p>With all of his physical abilities enhanced to beyond superhuman level in Sage Mode, Jiraiya could jump with enough force to cause a sonic boom and enough height to touch the clouds. However, his leaping capabilities were put to the ultimate test when the Senjutsu-user jumped in pursuit of the mechanical angel.<p>

He would have succeeded to, inches away from grabbing on to the armored being's ankle, when his mark suddenly accelerated, leaving Jiraiya empty-handed hundreds of meters above ground.

"Jiraiya-chan!" yelled the green toad on his right shoulder, "What was that flying metal figure you tried to catch, and why am I sensing natural energy coursing through it?"

"I-I have no idea, Fukusaku-sensei," replied Jiraiya, "That's what I'm trying to figure out. Somehow, that thing can harness energy from nature itself. I need to catch up with it."

"But how are you going to do that, Jiraiya-chan," interjected Shima, Fukusaku's wife, "That thing can fly, and you can't. You lost your chance to track it when it slipped out of your reach. "

"I can always…improvise, can't I," said Jiraiya with grin. As he fell from the sky, the Sannin bit his thumb, drawing blood, before forming the hand seals for the Summoning Technique. With a shout of "_Kushiyose no Jutsu_", Jiraiya pressed his palm down in mid-air, causing a sealing array and another cloud of smoke to appear.

This cloud of smoke was much bigger than the one from earlier, and when it cleared, it its place was a gigantic, magenta-skinned frog wielding a whitish-beige, circular shield and an unusual staff. Sage Mode Jiraiya was of course standing on its head.

"Sorry, Gamaken-san, for using you like this," apologized the super pervert, "But I need a boost!"

With a grunt, Jiraiya leaped from Gamaken's head using his super strength. This sent him shooting up into the sky again, and pretty soon his Senjutsu-enhanced vision was able to spot his target. But it wasn't quite enough.

"Damn it! I need to jump again!" bellowed Jiraiya before performing Kuchiyose no Jutsu again, summoning the same humongous toad from before. Using Gamaken's head as a platform once more, the Sandaime's student jumped while putting all his force into his legs.

It still wasn't enough.

"Just one more time!" yelled the Senjutsu-user before summoning Gamaken for a third time. With another leap, Jiraiya was on his way. He could see the figure of his mark getting closer and closer, and he was fairly confidant that he would be able to catch the mechanical angel this time.

Meanwhile, Sasori was getting rather annoyed at his adversary's attempt to pursue him. Any normal shinobi would give up after losing him at the first acceleration, but _no_, there just _had_ to be one of the legendary Sannin in the area. What bad luck he had.

Of course, the Kyokutanna was still only at cruising speed, and all Sasori had to do to lose his non-flight capable enemy was to accelerate to maximum velocity and shift vectors. But Sasori was starting to develop a grudging respect for the Toad Sage and his clever use of summoning to chase after him. Plus, he wanted to test a certain feature of his new armor.

So, the Hoshikuzu member decelerated before turning around and pointing a single finger at the approaching Jiraiya. The metal phalange shot off like a bullet before a blue chakra string followed it. When the chakra string intercepted the flying finger, it triggered a seal inside the digit, causing a familiar cloud of white smoke to burst from the seal.

As the smoke dispersed, Jiraiya watched in horror as a vaguely-humanoid but humongous mechanical behemoth emerged from the cloud on a direct collision course with him. Thanks to his enhanced senses in Sage Mode, the Perverted Hermit could easily detect the chakra string exiting out of the iron giant's back and leading back to the stump where its summoner's index finger used to be.

When it seemed like things could not get any worse, apparently, his mechanical enemy was also a master puppeteer.

TBC

Omake #2: With Great Awesomeness Comes Great Inspiration.

"So the plot thickens. On one end, we have Sasori and the other new Hoshikuzu members making their initial foray into armed interventions, as the first phase in the Rikudou Hiraishin's ultimate plan for true peace commences. On another end, we have Itachi and Minato's confrontation with Shimura Danzo, as well as Kushina's delving into the ancient secrets of fuinjutsu. And finally, on a third end, we have Naruto and Team 7's adventures in the Land of Waves. What could possibly happen next on the next episode of-…?"

"Oh will you shut up, Sennin-teme!" interjected Choetsu with an annoyed tone, "Stop giving commentary on my story in an overly-dramatic fashion. It's getting on my nerves. You're supposed to be my critic, not my narrator! Why are you here, anyways?"

"Oh, if you must know, I wanted to inform you of a little development that might just interest you, Choetsu," was the Sage's answer. The blonde-haired time traveler raised a brow at this in curiosity.

"What have you got for me, my old buddy?" asked Choetsu with a big grin on his face.

"Here, how 'bout I show you," said the Sage before pressing his fingers against the Kamikage's forehead. Feeling the information flow directly into his mind, Choetsu started rubbing his chin in the classic thinking position, while nodding every now and then.

"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, oh that's good, mm-hmm, nice, Ichiro huh? Oh, that's interesting; he made Kurama a boy instead; a nice divergence. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, wait…Amaterasu Jr.? What kind of name is that!" babbled the Flying Thunder God incomprehensively. When he was finally done, the inventor of ninjutsu took his fingers off Choetsu's forehead, and gave him a look.

"So…what do you think?"

"Apparently, one of your counterparts in an alternate reality, who by the way is not nearly as batshit insane as I am but is still pretty eccentric, decided to follow in my footsteps and make a game out of messing with the mortals. Sounds awesome to me!" exclaimed the Rikudou Hiraishin.

"Although I don't really understand what other Rikudous see in your idea, I guess it's really caught on," mused the Sage of Six Paths.

"What can I say…with great awesomeness comes great inspiration."

The End

And there we go. That omake I had at the end was a shout out to a new fanfic called _Inheritence of the Sage_, by Luke the Healer. He was inspired to write the story by It's Rikudou Hiraishin to You!, and I became flattered so I decided to give him a shout out in this chapter. So, everyone should go check out Luke's story, cuz it has great potential! After you read and review mine, of course, hehe.


	21. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: Mark my words; someday...I _will_ own Naruto, mwuhahahahaha! But for now, I will satisfy myself with this one fanfic.

Author's Note: Sasori's New Puppet vs Sage Mode Jiraiya! Let's get ready to RUMBLE!(announcer's voice) Oh, and some other stuff too. And for the record, I have nothing against homosexuals, just to be safe. You'll know what I'm talking about, after you read this chapter. Enjoy...

Chapter 20: The Iron Demon

It was approximately eight-feet tall, armored in the same material as its puppeteer, albeit not of the same chrome polish that glittered in the sunlight. It was a bulky giant with thick limbs, a wide torso with that same circle of light centered on its chest, and a face that looked similar to those metal visors worn by blowtorch-wielders.

It had giant shoulder pauldrons, and its wrists were covered in metal arm guards upon which numerous contraptions were strapped to, one of them being a large nozzle that one could assume to be some type of weapon. Sitting behind its massive heels were a pair of chakra boosters that seemed to be retracted when not in use.

It was _Tetsuma_, the Iron Demon; Sasori's new, fully armored puppet. It was built for him courtesy of the _Rikudou Hiraishin_ himself, as an extra perk that would go along with the Kazekage-killer's new armor. When not in use, Tetsuma was stored in a seal etched on the inside of each of the suit's fingers, meaning that a total of ten copies of Tetsuma could be summoned by Sasori at once. It essentially gave him a small army of armored, robotic giants to fight with.

Despite their numbers, even just a single Tetsuma puppet was an extremely formidable force. Sasori was fairly confidant that it would take no more than one of them to hold off his enemy, legendary Sannin or not.

Many would assume this to be arrogance, after all, who would bank on the abilities of a single puppet versus a kage-level opponent. But Jiraiya learned the hard way that Sasori was not joking around; after leaping out of the smoke it had been summoned from, Tetsuma had immediately cocked its fist back and triggered a set of chakra boosters in its wrist.

These wrist-mounted boosters served to increase the momentum and consequently the force of each punch dealt by the iron behemoth, and also gave it the element of surprise in some situations. In this case, Jiraiya was completely caught off-guard by the metal puppet's sudden acceleration, resulting in him getting a face full of pain when the behemoth's massive fist slammed into him directly.

The Toad Sage was sent tumbling from high altitude like a meteor in an ungraceful manner, his body spiraling through the air and limbs flapping about everywhere, as he approached the ground at far beyond terminal velocity. Before he crashed into the ground, however, he crashed into Gamaken first, resulting in both the mountain-sized creature and himself careening towards the Earth.

The giant toad and its summoner eventually crash-landed upon a wide, open plain, resulting in a massive explosion that kicked up copious amounts of dirt and debris. This was followed by another explosion of white smoke, signaling the departure of Gamaken from the Human Realm.

After his summon's departure, Jiraiya was left lying on his back, his body racked with throbbing soreness. He had only survived the fall due to a combination of Gamaken cushioning his impact, and his natural durability in Sage Mode. If it weren't for those two, his body would have been smashed to a pulp.

With a grunt of pain, the Yondaime's sensei picked himself from off the ground. Ma and Pa were still fused to his shoulders, so his Sage Mode hadn't been compromised fortunately. Soon, he started to feel the aches that had been pervading his body start to dull; a sign that Jiraiya was still ready to fight.

"Jiraiya-chan," spoke Fukusaku in a light whisper, "Should we prepare Frog Song?"

"No," was his student's reply, "We're up against some strange puppet technique that I've never seen before. I have a hunch that it won't work."

Cupping his palms together, the Sannin focused before extending his senses to cover a much greater volume. A few instants later, Jiraiya detected a blip at the very edge of his awareness; a blip that was rapidly approaching at high velocity. Now alert, the Sage Mode-user charged forward with all his speed in order to pre-empt the imminent battle.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in Amegakure, Choetsu was observing the recent development between Jiraiya and Sasori with piqued interest, using his own Sage Mode of course. It was not everyday that an S-Rank missing-nin and a legendary Sannin went all out in battle, after all.<p>

With a snap of his fingers, a bag of popcorn suddenly materialized in front of the Rikudou Hiraishin. Taking the bag, Choetsu started digging in when his senses registered a new presence arriving on the roof of Nagato's citadel.

"Oh, if it isn't Shizuka-chan! Come here and join me," said Choetsu, addressing the raven-haired princess watching him from the roof entrance, "And you can tell me all about your progress with the Rinnegan."

* * *

><p>When Tetsuma finally landed on the ground, using chakra boosters to soften it's landing, the force of the impact ruptured the Earth and left a wide crater where the behemoth was now standing. In front of it was a cloud of dust that obscured normal vision, marking the spot where Jiraiya and Gamaken had fallen.<p>

Seconds later, a blur shot out of the dust cloud at breakneck speeds. With uncharacteristic speed, the Iron Demon brought up an arm to block the sudden, powerful kick aimed at its torso from said blur, which was revealed to be Jiraiya himself. For a moment, the Toad Sage gaped in shock at the giant's reflexes before he was sent flying by a casual backhand.

Jiraiya skillfully regained his balance before landing on his feet, giving him enough time to watch as the metal puppet raised one of its arms, pointing the mechanical appendage at him. One of the nozzles attached to its arm lit up before releasing a stream of _Katon_ chakra. The directed firestorm hurtled at its target with a searing ferocity, ready to cook the 51-year old to a burning crisp.

It was not to be, however, when Jiraiya formed a single hand-seal before bellowing, "_Sage Art: Earth Release: Layered Earth Dome_!" With a controlled release of _Senjutsu_ chakra, the Sannin created three separate domes of reinforced rock, each one enveloping the last like a set of Russian _Matryoshka_ dolls (if Russian culture actually existed in this particular universe).

Tetsuma's fire-stream sprayed the outer layer with a blazing heat, but failed to melt through the hardened stone. It wasn't until Tetsuma had added a second fire-stream from the Katon projector on its other arm before the layered Earth dome started to give way.

Sensing this, Jiraiya exploded the outer layer, causing a storm of rock fragments to burst outwards and disperse the flames. Next, the Konoha spymaster formed another short set of seals before exclaiming, "_Senpou: Doton: Judan no Arashi_ (Sage Art: Earth Release: Bullet Storm)!"

From the second and now outer layer of the Earth dome, a seemingly endless barrage of razor-sharp, pebble-sized stones was fired, bombarding Tetsuma with a storm of rock bullets. The iron behemoth weathered through the storm for a while, using its arm to take the brunt of the barrage, before igniting the chakra boosters in its feet and blasting off.

It landed a few seconds later, on the other side of Jiraiya's Earth dome. Charging forward, Tetsuma smashed the remaining two layers of the dome apart with a rocket-propelled fist. When the debris cloud finally cleared, the mechanical giant founds its target to be gone, with nothing but a hole in the ground where Jiraiya should have been.

A few meters away, the Toad Sage emerged from the ground, having used an Earth Release technique earlier to tunnel underground before Tetsuma's fist could destroy his defenses. The perverted hermit inhaled a huge breath of air before announcing, "_Senpou: Katon: Endan _(Sage Art: Fire Release: Flame Bomb)!" before releasing a blazing torpedo of fire chakra at his target.

The flame bomb combusted upon impact, which resulted in a brief explosion that engulfed the Iron Demon in a hellish inferno. Jiraiya was too experienced to believe it was over, however, and remained alert. His vigilance came in handy when Tetsuma erupted from the flames, completely unscratched, before charging at Jiraiya with the assistance of its chakra boosters. The mechanical puppet threw a heavy punch at him which the Sannin just barely blocked with his arms. In response, the two frogs on Jiraiya's shoulders fired _Suiton_ and _Fuuton_ streams at Tetsuma. The dual torrents of water from Fukusaku and air from Shima blasted Tetsuma at point-blank.

This proved to be nothing but a minor inconvenience for the juggernaut, who simply shrugged it off before igniting the chakra boosters in its wrists. The increased momentum given to the punch overwhelmed Jiraiya's defense, breaking the man's guard and sending him tumbling away. The novelist's body skidded across the ground before coming to a halt nearly one hundred meters away.

As Jiraiya lay there, racked in pain, he tried to think of a plan. "You have any ideas, Ma, Pa?" asked Jiraiya, addressing the _Ni Dai Sennin_.

Shima shook her head, "No, ma boy, that thing is too powerful. I don't sense any weaknesses at all."

"My suggestion would be to place a tracking seal on it, like you tried to do to its master in the first place," added Fukusaku, "Then fake your death or somethin' and run away as fast as possible."

Jiraiya nodded, "I guess I'll try something along those lines."

The white-haired pervert picked himself off the floor again before attacking. When Tetsuma spotted his charge, the iron giant fired another fire-stream from its Katon projectors. In response, Jiraiya completed a set of hand seals before countering with his own fire-stream, which collided against Tetsuma's.

This resulted in a pseudo game of tug-of-war as the opposing forces battled for dominance, eventually culminating in an explosive conflagration that erupted at the midpoint between the two enemies. When the inferno had died down, Jiraiya rushed the fully armored puppet once again, closing the gap between them.

The Toad Sage made a grab for Tetsuma, but the Iron Demon throw a rocket-propelled punch at his head, forcing the man to dodge with the Body Flicker Technique. The Sannin reappeared behind Tetsuma before crouching on all fours, "_Senpou: Kebari Senbon_ (Sage Art: Hair Needle Senbon)!"

Jiraiya's wild mane of white, spiky hair suddenly let loose a barrage of razor-sharp hair needles, bombarding the metal behemoth from behind. This served to halt the giant's actions temporarily, but did not damage it anyways; at least not initially.

"_Senpou: Dai Kebari Bakuha_ (Sage Art: Great Hair Needle Explosion)!" declared the Yondaime's sensei while forming a single seal. Dai Kebari Bakuha was a technique that released the chakra stored in each hair follicle, causing the hairs to explode. It took the already extremely deadly Kebari Senbon jutsu, and made it even more destructive, as every single piece of sharpened hair was now a miniature exploding tag.

The series of explosions that followed knocked the Iron Demon off its feet and onto its back, giving Jiraiya the opening he needed to flicker in and slam his palm against Tetsuma's chest. Before his hand could make contact with the puppet's armored shell, however, an invisible force-field manifested around the juggernaut, blocking Jiraiya's advance. The Senjutsu-user immediately noticed a certain aspect of the field.

'_It's a barrier of natural energy; almost like a defensive version of the Kuwaza Kumite. I've never seen anything like it_!'

Indeed, the protective field surrounding Tetsuma and its puppeteer, Sasori's _Kyokutanna Mode_ armor, was actually a layer of focused natural energy, designed to defend against a wide range of attacks. It was the reason why Tetsuma remained unscratched despite all of the effort a Kage-level shinobi had put into trying to damage it. But now that Jiraiya knew what it was, he had a means to neutralize it.

Reaching out with his will, the Toad Sage touched the very essence of nature itself surrounding and protecting Tetsuma, before drawing it into himself. This had the desired effect of draining the Iron Demon's nearly-invincible shield, which would have left it defenseless for Jiraiya's next move. Unfortunately, before Jiraiya could completely absorb the force-field, the circle of light centered on Tetsuma's chest brightened considerably before shooting out a radiant blast of azure chakra, sending the Gama-Sennin flying off of it.

Jiraiya did a flip in mid-air to right himself before landing on his feet. After regaining his balance, Jiraiya began a series of hand-seals just as his mechanical adversary charged at him again. Suddenly, the iron behemoth accelerated, using the boosters in its wrist to augment the ones already firing in its heels, before throwing a lightning fast punch at Jiraiya's head.

Before the fist could connect, however, the Toad Sage evaded with a quick shunshin before rematerializing behind the puppet and slamming his palms against the ground.

"_Senpou: Doton: Yomi Numa_ (Sage Art: Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld)!" roared Jiraiya as he transformed the ground beneath Tetsuma into a murky pit of mud and muck, causing the juggernaut to sink into its depths. Before the giant could be fully submerged, however, it turned around and sprayed another torrent of flames at the Doton-user.

Jiraiya countered the fire-stream by enveloping himself in a protective cocoon of reinforced hair; his signature _Hari Jizo_. Safe inside his defenses, Jiraiya formed a familiar cross seal in order to create one _kage bunshin_. The shadow clone popped into existence outside of Jiraiya's hair defense before firing a toad oil bullet from its mouth. The deluge of oil covered Tetsuma's fire-spewing arm in a thick coating of an extremely viscous and flammable substance, forcing the Iron Demon to halt its attack lest it blow up its own limb.

The metal behemoth tried to use its other Katon projector, but Jiraiya's clone was quick to act, firing another oil bullet to take out Tetsuma's remaining arm. The bunshin followed up quickly by shooting an even larger oil bullet, this time covering all of Tetsuma in a layer of debilitating toad oil. Unable to move, the iron giant slowly sunk into Jiraiya's underwold swamp.

The armored titan struggled against the cocoon of oil, while the Senjutsu core in its chest started to grow in luminosity. Blue light seeped through the dark oil, signifying a massive build-up in energy. The air around the juggernaut started to shimmer as well, a side effect of the natural energy barrier surrounding Tetsuma, which was beginning to intensify.

Just as the puppet's head finally sank into the muddy swamp, a radiant nova burst from the swamp's depth, destroying it in a brilliant explosion and releasing Tetsuma. Sasori's puppet rocketed from the explosion, its chakra boosters at full blast, before launching a heavy _Bakuton_ torpedo from its wrist at Jiraiya's location.

The projectile exploded upon impact, destroying Jiraiya's shadow clone and burning through the original's hair defense. The intense explosion kicked up a cloud of debris, from which the Toad Sage skidded from before halting a few meters away. His white, spiky hair was charred, and his clothes were blackened with ash. Other than that though, Jiraiya appeared to be unharmed.

With a grimace, Jiraiya spoke, "Damn it; this has been going on for too long. I don't know how much longer I can last."

"It doesn't even seem like you've done much damage to that thing either, Jiraiya-chan," added Fukusaku, "We should think of another avenue of attack."

"But what, Pa?" questioned his wife, "That thing has an invincible force-field that can withstand all of our jutsus, and even when we tried to absorb it, it just blasted us away. We've tried to evade and outmaneuver it too, but it's a lot faster than it looks!"

"Like hell that I know!" snapped Pa, "Stop whining and try to think of something, Ma!"

"I'm not whining, you old toad! This is-…"

"Shut up, the both of you!" interjected Jiraiya, "I have a plan. We need to use "that" jutsu!"

Fukusaku's eyes widened, "You want us to use "that"? But will we have an opening?"

"Don't worry," replied Jiraiya in a firm voice, while forming hand seals, "I'll make one! _Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu_ (Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer Technique)!" After he finished his last seal, a vast cloud of smoke popped into existence above the Iron Demon. From the white smoke cloud, a titanic toad summon descended at terminal velocity before landing and pinning the mechanical behemoth under its weight, having given it no time to evade. Upon impact, the ground ruptured as a miniature earthquake shook the area.

Taking advantage of his adversary's temporary loss of mobility, Jiraiya and the Two Great Sages began forming hand seals simultaneously, whilst gathering their highly potent Senjutsu chakra in preparation for a massive technique.

Meanwhile, a translucent shimmering effect began to manifest beneath the giant toad pinning Tetsuma to the ground. As the shimmering intensified, a bright, blue light erupted from beneath the giant toad, seeping out onto the ground. Upon reaching its critical point, the locus of light exploded outwards, blasting the hapless toad summon into the sky, where it dispelled in another pop of white smoke.

Jiraiya gave a shocked pause at this, as he didn't expect the armored puppet to escape from the weight of such a massive toad so soon. But he underestimated Tetsuma's ability to release and expand its barrier into an outward exploding shockwave of cataclysmic proportions.

Thankfully, he recovered soon enough to finish his hand seal sequence before Tetsuma could attack. In unison, Jiraiya and the Ni Dai Sennin all exclaimed, "_Senpou: Goemon_ (Sage Art: Bath of Boiling Oil)!"

Goemon was a collaboration jutsu that could only be used by a minimum of three Senjutsu-users in unison. It began with Jiraiya creating a large volume of toad oil from his mouth, followed by the casting of a powerful Wind Release technique from Fukasaku in order to propel the oil, and finally, a Katon stream from Shima to ignite the oil.

The result is an enormous, fast-moving wave of super-heated oil. Upon contact, the super heated oil creates an inferno of such magnitude that, within an instant, the target and the surrounding area is reduced to cinders.

Not willing to test his puppet's durability against the deadly, blazing torrent, Sasori commanded Tetsuma to spray the oil bath with a fire-stream from its Katon projectors. The expected result was the oil's premature ignition, causing the burning wave to explode before it got too close to Jiraiya's desired target.

Yet, the resulting explosion was still close enough and powerful enough to launch Tetsuma into the air, leaving it open for Sage Mode Jiraiya to flicker in and slam a Rasengan into the giant's chest. Although the natural energy barrier served to protect Tetsuma from any real damage, the momentum from the attack sent Tetsuma plummeting to the ground. After crash landing, the iron behemoth skidded across the surface, rupturing the Earth and leaving behind a trail of destruction from its weight.

Not giving his enemy any respite, Jiraiya created a shadow clone in mid-air before using it as a platform to push off of and leap towards Tetsuma. He stretched out his hand in front of him, before gathering a tremendous amount of chakra. The azure chakra manifested visibly before rotating into a spiraling sphere of compressed energy. As Jiraiya hurtled towards the down juggernaut with utmost speed, the newly-formed Rasengan in his palm started expanding, growing larger and larger until it was several times wider than Jiraiya's entire body.

"Listen here, you metal abomination!" bellowed Jiraiya, addressing Tetsuma as the puppet finally managed to pick itself off the ground, "I admit; you've given me a great fight! A truly worth opponent, indeed! But not many can boast that they survived a deadly encounter with the legendary Gama-Sennin, known throughout all of the lands as the most renowned super-pervert in the world! And you shall not be one of them! It ends here; so says the great and gallant, JIRAIYA! _**CHOU…OODAMA…RASENGAN**_!"

Now, mere feet away from his target, Jiraiya thrusted his palm forward, launching the gargantuan Rasengan in his hand directly at the Iron Demon. In response, Tetsuma brought up its arms before focusing the bulk of its force-field around its armored hands. With another hot-blooded roar, Jiraiya drove his massive Rasengan further until it collided with Tetsuma, who immediately caught the enormous sphere of chakra with his barrier-reinforced gauntlets.

The momentum and force of the attack was too great, however, and Sasori's puppet started to skid backwards, its metal feet dragging into the dirt. To compensate for this, Sasori triggered the chakra boosters in Tetsuma's heels, allowing the juggernaut to halt Jiraiya's advance. The Toad Sage gasped audibly; shocked at the fact that his enemy was able to withstand his most powerful jutsu. With a grunt of effort, Jiraiya pushed downwards on his Rasengan in an attempt to crush the iron behemoth with it, but Tetsuma simply activated the boosters in its arms to counteract the extra force.

With the help of the barrier focused around its hands and the boosters firing in its feet and arms, Tetsuma was able to hold up the massive Rasengan. The two opposing forces seemed to be equal, neither one dominating the other.

Miles above the ground, Sasori pondered the current situation. It didn't seem like the two would be letting up anytime soon, and Sasori had a feeling that when they did, his puppet would be on the loosing end. That massive Rasengan the Sannin had thrown at Tetsuma was immensely powerful, and didn't seem to have lost any force after the juggernaut had caught it. Tetsuma was only barely holding on. Once its defenses were overwhelmed, the Iron Demon was done for.

Deciding that, if he was going to lose his new puppet, then he would take out the opposition with it, Sasori activated the overload function in Tetsuma's Senjutsu Core. This function was designed to remove all of the reactor's in-built limiters, allowing the entirety of its energy to be released at once.

In a few seconds, the tremendous amount of Sage chakra contained within the Senjutsu Core would be unleashed in a single, unidirectional beam of blue light. The beam would collide against Jiraiya's Chou Oodama Rasengan, resulting in a gigantic backlash of energy that would destroy them both, along with the surrounding area for kilometers in every direction.

As the bright light radiating from Tetsuma's Senjutsu Core reached its peak luminosity, Jiraiya started to panic as he detected the ridiculous spike in energy. It was far too late for him to do anything about it, however; all Tetsuma needed now was the final confirmation signal from its master, and then it could finally release all of the pent-up energy within its core, annihilating itself and its enemy.

* * *

><p>When Naruto and Sasuke had finally returned to Tazuna's house after what Kakashi assumed was a long night of training, everyone present could see the almost visible tension between the two teammates. Although Naruto was supporting Sasuke as they walked in, not a single word was exchanged between the two, even when they sat down.<p>

When they finally started eating, Sasuke simply stared at his food and consumed slowly, not bothering to even so much as look at his blonde rival. Naruto had a look of concern and guilt on his face, while he would occasionally give tentative glances in Sasuke's direction.

Kakashi's third student, Kurama, looked very much like she wanted to speak out and see what had gone sour between her brother and the Uchiha boy, but the stifling awkward silence that pervaded the room's atmosphere prevented her from doing so. It was quite the uncomfortable situation.

Finally, Naruto spoke, "Listen…Sasuke. I know you're giving me the cold shoulder, and everything, but I just wanted to let you know; I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry about what happened in the woods earlier…"

'_Something happened in the woods?_' mentally inquired Kakashi, '_I wonder what it was. It had to be something important considering the attitude Sasuke is giving Naruto. He's not the most talkative kid, but he's never completely ignored someone_.'

"I-It was my first time…without my heavy clothes on," said Naruto, referring to his new weighted accessories, "I guess I was a little too rough with you."

Kakashi's brow rose at this, '_What are they talking about? Don't tell me they're…_'

"But I honestly thought that you were ready for me," continued Naruto, "So I threw caution to the wind and I just…thrusted forward. You know."

Kakashi gave an awkward cough at Naruto's statement, although this went unnoticed by the two male genin. Meanwhile, Kurama was starting to catch on, as a deep red blush began forming on her whiskered-face.

'_No way…Sasuke…and my brother…could they possibly be_…'

"I guess I went too fast and too hard back then. But I didn't think you'd lose it all so quickly. You should seriously work on that stamina of yours," said Naruto, causing his sister's face to redden even further. Tazuna and his daughter Tsunami, who had been listening in, were both starting to feel very awkward. Tsunami was even sporting the same expression as Kurama.

"It's not about stamina!" snapped Sasuke, finally talking, "You were just too fast! You didn't even give me time to get ready and _clench up_ or anything!"

"Well you did ask for it," replied Naruto, "And you could've asked me to hold back, or something along those lines."

"Shut up, Naruto. I don't wanna hear this coming from a guy who though I was gonna rape him," rebuffed Sasuke harshly. That last statement from Sasuke caused Tazuna to spit out some food in a comedic manner, and the rest of the room's occupants decided that they would stop eating, at least until whatever ridiculous situation had cropped up between the two boys was resolved.

"S-Sorry; I didn't mean it in that way, Sasuke. H-Hey, is your…well, you know; you're _rear-end_ still sore from earlier,' asked Naruto, '_He did fall on his ass after I knocked him out, after all_.'

Unable to take it any longer, the feverish, red-faced Kurama completely lost it. With a spurt of blood from her nose, the red-haired vixen was knocked back out of her chair. Thanks to his quick reflexes, Kakashi was able to catch his female student, but by then she had already fainted.

Naruto and Sasuke were both gaping at the display the Hokage's daughter had put on, while Hatake Kakashi simply stared at the limp redhead in his arms, with a look of abject horror on his masked face, "N-no, th-this can't be. My student…my little _otouto_…is a…is a…"

"…_**YAOI FANGIRL**_! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"What the hell are you yelling about, Kakashi-sensei!" exclaimed Naruto in a panicked tone, "And what happened to my sister! The only time I've ever seen someone nosebleed like that is when I use my _Oiroke no Jutsu_."

Sasuke simply stared in disbelief at the unconscious body of his red-haired teammate, while mulling over his sensei's frantic ramblings involving "yaoi fangirls". If he recalled from his older brother's overdramatic lectures warning against this particular breed of fangirls, they were apparently aroused by situations involving male-on-male sexual interactions.

If Kurama was one as Kakashi had claimed, and her mind had been stimulated to the point of a nosebleed-induced coma, then that must mean…

'_No, don't tell me; from the way Naruto and I were talking earlier…did you guys think we were_…'

"I'm sorry Naruto," spoke Kakashi in a remorseful tone, "but I'm afraid to say that you're sister is now lost to us."

"What! What do you mean by that?" question Naruto with a distressing tone, puzzled by his surrogate brother's tone of voice.

"Look," continued the porn-lover, "I know you two were trying to work out some private issues between the two of you, and I'd rather not pry into it…but are you two involved together in something that may be a liability to this team. 'Cuz whatever it is, it's already caused Kurama to faint, and who knows what else it could lead to…"

Sasuke was about to strongly deny Kakashi's accusations when Naruto beat him to it, "What are you talking about, Kakashi-sensei? Nothing happened in the woods. Sasuke just challenged me to a spar to test his progress, and I knocked him out in less than five seconds."

"That was a cheap shot and you know it, dobe!"

"Oh, shut up, teme!"

"Wait! Hold on," interjected Kakashi, "So you two…didn't, well, do _it_, in the woods?"

Naruto paled before heaving over and vomiting his dinner onto the recently washed floor, causing a vein to pop in Tsunami's temple.

Seeing his blonde teammate in no condition to talk, Sasuke replied for him, "No, Kakashi…we didn't. And that's disgusting. Naruto's a guy and my teammate! I don't swing that way!"

"Could've fooled me, kid," interjected Tazuna.

"Why does everyone keep saying that!"

"Cuz it's true, teme!" taunted Naruto after recovering from his vomiting fit. Sasuke noted with disgust that there was still a bit of barely-digested food running down the side of his mouth.

"No one asked you! Go back to your puking, dobe!"

"Okay, I will! And this time it's gonna be on you!"

Meanwhile, as this was going on, a certain red-haired vixen was starting to stir from her temporary state of unconsciousness. After groggily opening her eyes, Kurama immediately noticed a sensation of faintness in her head, and the feeling of fresh, warm blood running down from her nostrils.

"Woah; what happen," muttered Kurama out loud, alerting the room's other occupants to her awakening, "I had this…really weird dream. Sasuke was giving my brother the cold shoulders, and apparently they did it in the woods."

"Kurama, that actually happened," deadpanned Kakashi, "You weren't dreaming. You just fainted."

"Not the part about the woods though!" interjected Naruto, "That was just a big misunderstanding, hehehe."

"Oh, that's good to hear," replied Kurama weakly, '_But why do I have this weird feeling of disappointment_?'

Kakashi gave a deep sigh before addressing his team again, "I think it would probably be a good idea for you two to explain everything that happened in the woods. That way we can avoid any future…misunderstandings."

Sasuke and Naruto nodded, before going off into a retelling of what really went on in the woods. Sasuke recounted how he had managed to finally climb all the way to the top of a tree using chakra, and that afterwards, he wanted to test his progress. So he sought out Naruto, and asked the blonde to follow him into the woods, that way Sasuke could challenge him to a spar.

But Naruto had taken it the wrong way (just like everyone else in the room had), and it had cost Sasuke some time explaining to get the boy to finally agree to a spar. In which the Namikaze had promptly knocked him out in three seconds flat, not even giving the Uchiha time to react.

When everything was finally said and done, Naruto grabbed an arsenal of cleaning utensils to take care of the vomit he left on Tsunami's floor. When he was finished, he and Sasuke awkwardly went back to eating their meals, the same tension still present from before. The rest of the room's occupants decided to join them, and the whole fiasco soon became one that none of them would ever talk about ever again.

It wasn't for another half-hour until Kakashi broke the silence, "So, Sasuke; with all of the commotion earlier, I didn't get the chance to comment on a certain aspect of your story."

Sasuke's brow rose slight before the Uchiha responded, "Huh? What do you mean?"

"You said that you were able to climb all the way to top, which means you've successfully mastered the tree climbing exercise," continued Kakashi with his trademark eye smile, "And I haven't forgotten about you either, Kurama."

Kurama made a look before pointing at herself, puzzled.

"Yes, you Kurama; both your brother and I were there when you showed off your mastery of tree climbing. Although you lost focus at the end, I had a feeling that was a fluke and that you already have a great grasp on the whole thing. So, as of now, I'm officially allowing you and Sasuke to join us in protecting Tazuna-san, starting first thing tomorrow."

Kurama's face lit up at her sensei's words, and Naruto was beaming madly; happy for his twin sister. Even Sasuke had to smirk in pride for his own progress. The two Namikaze siblings gave each other shit-eating grins before high-fiving, and Tazuna and Tsunami were also partaking in the cheering and general merriment.

The tension from earlier seemed to have completely deserted the room.

"Why do you guys bother to try so hard! No matter how much you train, you're no match for Gatou!" loudly ranted a tiny voice from the doorway, "You can make any glorious claim you want, and work as hard as you want, but you can't escape the fact that…when facing those with power, the powerless will only be killed!"

And with that, the tension was back, stronger than ever.

Tsunami, Tazuna, Kakashi, Kurama, hell even Sasuke, were all gaping in shock at Inari's sudden outburst. The kid had been absent from the dinner table, so it came as a big surprise when Tazuna's grandson suddenly barged into the room while ranting his little head off. Only Naruto wasn't sporting a look of astonishment.

Instead, his expression was one of barely suppressed rage.

"Whatever kid, I'm not like you," snapped Naruto coldly. This only served to spur the little boy on even more.

"I'd hate to be like you!" screamed Inari, "You don't know anything about this land, _my land_, and what we've been through! Yet despite that, you're just being so nosy!"

Not even bothering to reply, Naruto simply rested his head on the table, showing his lack of acknowledgment or concern for Inari's words. Further enraged by this, Inari continued his rant, "What the hell do you know about me! I'm completely different from a guy like you!"

"You're always fooling around, making a big joke out of everything. You act so cheerful and happy-go-lucky, but honestly, that's only because you don't know anything about how rough or sad life can really be. You don't know anything about suffering!"

Finally, something in Naruto snapped. His pent-up anger and frustration with Inari went critical, as images of a bald-headed man and his bearded, tan-skinned partner appeared in his mind's eye.

The faint remnants of revolting memories flickered into consciousness; a feeling of water being poured over his head and the sensation of drowning as he struggled against unbreakable bonds, a mouth clamped shut as disgusting, unpalatable _substance _was shoved down his throat via a rubber tube, and the words "That's sick, Azusa. You're sadistic, but I don't really care as long as we're getting all the ransom money for this" were just some of the grotesque imagery and sensations that came to mind.

With a blood-curling scream, the Hokage's son stood up while slamming his palms against the table.

"Just go on and cry forever, then, you little brat! You're nothing but a sissy!" growled Naruto as he gave Inari the most terrifying face he could muster. Added to that was a flare of killing intent that had the pessimistic child wetting himself in abject fear, with a waterfall of tears and snot running down his face.

"N-Nii-chan, what the hell's wrong with you," stammered Kurama, unhinged by the fury present on her normally upbeat sibling's face, "He's just a kid."

But Naruto wasn't hearing any of it. His vision was seeing red as a cacophony of memories swirled through his mind, overwhelming his sense of self. Only the anger remained; if only to distract Naruto from the unbearable pain. He didn't know anything anymore; he didn't know why oh why he so very much wanted to, needed to, _had to_, smash the face in of this bawling, hat-wearing little boy in front of him.

Was it something he said, something he did, was it the color of his hat; Naruto didn't know. But it didn't matter. He would do anything to make the pain go away. And so, with a frenzied roar, Namikaze Naruto charged at little Inari, completely aware yet at the same time not at all aware that he was just about to punch the ever-loving shit out of a child not even ten years of age.

He didn't even make it an inch before Kakashi had shunshin-ed behind him and grabbed him by the wrist, before twisting his arms behind his back and putting him in an unbreakable hold. The speed it had happened at, and the sheer abruptness of it all, served to shock Naruto out of his rage-induced high.

"Well, Naruto, are you calm now?" whispered Kakashi into his earlobe after a while; his tone was neither threatening nor comforting. Chilled by his sensei's words, Naruto calmed himself, embracing the tranquility that was now suddenly invading his mind. It was surreal; just moments ago, he had been a raging berserker ready to punch out a little kid. But now, he was the absolute paragon of serenity. Maybe this was one of the one thousand jutsus that Kakashi had copied.

But as soon as that feeling of serenity had set in, it was instantly replaced with tremendous guilt. Guilt at what he was just about to do; what he was _willing_ to do. And those memories; what were they, and where did they come from?

But worst of all, was the looks. Sasuke was giving him a look of suspicion, while Tazuna and Tsunami eyed him in contempt (he had nearly beaten up their grandson/son, after all). Kurama had concern written all over her face, but it was the concern and worry that made Naruto sick; he shouldn't have had to worry Kurama like that, _ever_.

And of course, there was Inari. The little squirt was horrified, eyes wide in fright and tears still having yet to dry. But there was something else there: disgust. It wasn't directed at Naruto. No, it was aimed at him self.

Before the blonde could ponder this any further, Inari had already run away, still bawling his head off. When Kakashi finally let go of his wrists, he turned towards him, and gave him a look. It wasn't a look of contempt, or suspicion, or even disappointment like he expected. It was a look of concern.

But it was unlike that of his sister's. Kurama's look was one of uncertainty; she was worried about something she didn't know, and that fear of an unknown was the root of her concern. But Kakashi's look; it was like he knew _exactly_ what was happening. There was something the Copy-nin was aware of that Naruto wasn't. He could read it in the scarecrow's eye.

After holding his gaze for a few more oppressive seconds, Kakashi turned away and went off in the same direction as Inari. Now, Naruto was left virtually alone in a room filled with people; people giving him strange looks. He knew this feeling.

He felt like shit.

* * *

><p>Despite being an advanced <em>fuinjutsu<em>-based artificial intelligence, even Rei had managed to lose of track of how many times her creator's wife, Namikaze Kushina, had paced back and forth across the workshop's floor in deep thought. It seemed that the crimson-haired sealing expert was truly at a roadblock when it came to deciphering the ancient scroll her husband had given her.

She didn't blame her though; nothing in Rei's own database matched the strange and highly complex sealing arrays displayed in the scroll. It was the first time a conundrum like this had ever presented itself to the A.I.

"I just don't get it, Rei! How come every seal in this _Kami _damned scroll, when broken down to their absolute most basic and fundament form, just lead to more headaches and more frustration for me. None of the cores match up; it's like they're written in an entirely different language!" ranted Kushina, "Which I know is not true, because all of the characters themselves are the same and legible to me. What is it; what am I doing wrong!"

"Maybe you're too bent on looking for sealing cores, master," suggested Rei, "Maybe there are none."

Kushina glared at Rei's projection before replying, "That's impossible, idiot! That's like having a number that, when factored completely, has no primes. Or like a piece of matter that, when disassembled at the subatomic level, leaves no protons, neutrons, or electrons behind. It just doesn't work that way, '_ttebane_!"

Despite being a hologram, Rei still had the gall to wince at her master's volume. It didn't take a genius to tell that the redhead was reaching her boiling point. This whole issue with the seals was really something that neither Minato nor she had to deal with lately. Due to their experience levels, matters of fuinjutsu always came easy to the couple. But this was different, somehow. Kushina was _stumped_.

"Sorries much, master; it was just a suggestion. You're not going to throw a tantrum are you? Minato-kun wouldn't like that," reprimanded the A.I. half-teasingly.

Kushina scoffed at this, "Please, I'm not a child, Rei-chan."

"I know, I know; I'm just trying to take your past behavior and _modus operandi_ in consideration," replied Rei, matter-of-factly, "You always did have a tendency to solve problems with your fist, when push came to shove. Bloody Red Habanera indeed."

Kushina sighed, "That's ancient history, and I hope you haven't been looking through my old academy files again! Those files are several times older than you are, so I don't know why you're acting like you were there!"

"If you say so, master. Now then; do you need anything else while you try and solve this frustrating quandary of a puzzle we have on our hands? I'm sure I can look up anger management techniques for you in my database."

"Oh, shut up, Rei," growled Kushina in response, "And as for needing anything, really, all I need is some peace, quiet, and time to think and I'll be go-WAIT! C-can you repeat that? Say that again!"

"W-What?"

"Repeat what you just said, Rei-chan," clarified the mother of two.

"Oh! I just…all I said was "I'm sure I can look up anger management techniques for you in my database". It was a joke, I swea-…"

"NO! Not that! What you said before!"

"Umm, "If you say so, master,"?"

"No…"

"Okaayyyyy then, you must mean when I asked "do you need anything else while you try and solve this frustrating quandary of a puzzl-…"

"THAT'S IT! That's the answer, dattebanne!" exclaimed Kushina while jumping up and down for joy. This puzzled Rei very much.

"Wha-what are you talking about, master?"

Kushina simply gave Rei a big, shit-eating grin before replying cheekily, "I think, Rei-chan…that I'm having an epiphany."

* * *

><p>It never came.<p>

The final confirmation signal that would allow Tetsuma to finish overloading its Senjutsu Core never came.

'_Stand your ass down, puppet boy_,' echoed the voice in his head, '_If you continue any further, both your puppet and Jiraiya will be destroyed_.'

'_My apologies, Choetsu-sama_, _but I believe that was the whole point. Killing Jiraiya was kind of what I was going for_,' replied the Suna missing-nin, using his thoughts to respond to the Rikudou Hiraishin. Somehow, the blonde Rinnegan-user was communicating with him telepathically. And he had contacted the puppeteer just moments before he was going to send a final confirmation signal, via chakra string, to his armored puppet; allowing it to overload its own reactor and take out the Toad Sage with it.

Although he couldn't see it, Sasori had a feeling that Choetsu was shaking his head, '_Sorry, Sasori-chan, but I kinda need the old pervert alive. He still has a role to play in future developments, and not only that, but my father and grandfather would both go apeshit if he were to die. There's no reason for you to waste a perfectly good puppet to take out a guy I don't want or need dead!_'

'_If you say so, Choetsu-sama_,' complied Sasori, unwilling to be the cause of the Kamikage's wrath, '_what would you have me do_?'

The mental line was silent for a short second, before Choetsu replied, '_Just call off your puppet, leave the perverted hermit alone, and get your wooden ass back to Rain. Got that, puppet boy_?'

Sasori gave the mental equivalent of a nod, before retracting the chakra string still attached to Tetsuma's back. With the line connecting it to its master now detached from it, the Iron Demon disappeared with a pop of white smoke, having become resealed within the metal finger at the end of the chakra string.

Without the juggernaut holding up Jiraiya's massive Rasengan any longer, the spiraling sphere of Sage chakra was driven into the ground, rupturing the Earth upon impacting and blowing up large amounts of debris. In the corner of her awareness, Shima sensed the metal finger containing a sealed Tetsuma within it, being reeled back into the sky.

Reacting quickly, the female Toad Sage lashed out with her unusual tongue. Thanks to the speed and flexibility of her slobbery appendage, Shima was successfully able to graze the finger with a lick, transferring the tracking seal on the tip of her tongue to the metal phalange.

The tracking seal was a "sticky-note"; a special seal invented by Namikaze Minato that was designed to transfer between surfaces on contact, hence its nickname. Sticky-notes came in handy in many situations, and this was one of them.

After Shima's tongue returned to her mouth, Jiraiya's Chou Oodama Rasengan drilled through the ground a little further before detonating. The humongous orb of rotating energy exploded, releasing a rapidly expanding shockwave of force that expelled outwards in every direction. This wave of destruction stretched out across the plain, carving deep into the crust and releasing a massive, spherical airburst that towered into the sky.

When it reached its zenith, the sphere was the size of a large mountain, shining with blue light that emitted pure power and irradiated the entire countryside. After a critical point, the sphere of destruction started to collapse on itself, getting smaller and smaller until the blue light had finally faded away. A crater, kilometers wide, was the only thing left behind.

At the center of the deep crater was the unconscious body of Jiraiya himself, no longer in Sage Mode. The Ni Dai Sennin was no longer present, having been dispelled back to their home realm during the light show.

A few minutes later, Jiraiya awakened with a grunt of discomfort. Sitting himself upright, the Toad Sage rubbed the soreness from his body before feeling a strange sensation originating from his right palm.

"What's this?" muttered the super pervert before taking a glance at his palm. There, he found the counterpart to the tracking seal "sticky-note" he had discreetly placed on Shima's tongue during the battle. It was active, which meant that the tracking seal itself had been successfully tagged.

Jiraiya smirked, "Thanks, Ma. That tongue of yours always comes in handy."

* * *

><p>With a flash of azure, Kyokutanna Mode Sasori reappeared hundreds of meters above Amegakure no Sato, accompanied shortly by a sonic boom. Swiveling his mechanical "bit-wings" to face upwards, the Suna missing-nin re-ignited the powerful chakra thrusters, propelling himself down towards the surface. He made sure to lessen the thrust, that way his descent could be as smooth and gentle as possible.<p>

His landing pad was at the top of the tallest skyscraper in Ame; Nagato's citadel. The suit's sensors easily detected the tall, blonde-haired figure waiting for him at the landing zone, accompanied to his side by a shorter, more feminine individual.

When he reached a specific altitude, Sasori cut the power to his wing thrusters, causing him to descend in free-fall. Once he was a certain height above the citadel's roof, Sasori briefly fired up the chakra repulsors in his palms and heels, easing his fall until his feet had finally touched down on the landing pad.

"Welcome back, Sasori-chan," greeted Choetsu with a smirk, "and good job on your first mission. Although, you didn't really have to engage the Gama-Sennin like you did; but I guess it made some decent entertainment for me, so I'm not really complaining."

Sasori's brow rose behind his metal faceplate, "You were watching the whole time, Choetsu-sama?"

"Of course!" was the blonde's exuberant reply, "How do you think I intervened before you almost killed the old pervert. I even had some popcorn to go along with the show!"

"Kami, you're ability to find amusement in completely serious situations is _unbelievable_," said Sasori before clamping a hand over his own mouth, "M-my apologies, Choetsu-sama, I didn't-…"

"No, no, that's fine!" interjected the True Rikudou, "You're getting some of your snark back, puppet boy. I like that. I don't know why you've been so stiff around me lately. Lighten up!"

The raven-haired twelve year old standing next to him, Shizuka, started to giggle, "Your armor is very cool, Sasori-san. May I try it on?"

Sasori, not having much experience with little girls, didn't really know how to take her question. Eventually, he found a voice and answered, "I'm afraid not, Shizuka-chan. This armor is custom-made for my unique body, so no one else but I can wear it."

Shizuka made a cute pouting face, causing Choetsu to chuckle. "Speaking of your suit, puppet boy; why don't you keep it on for a little bit longer? I need to barrow it for a sec."

Beneath his mask, Sasori's face scrunched up into an expression of puzzlement, "What do you mean, Choetsu-sam-…" before his arm suddenly moved of its own accord, with the glowing palm directly facing in Shizuka's direction. Sasori watched in horror as his chakra repulsor fired against his will, shooting out a chakra blast at the princess.

His fears proved unfounded, however, when Shizuka's eyes suddenly became ringed, concentric pools of mercury. An invisible force halted the blast of chakra, inches away from the Rinnegan-user's face, before reflecting it back at Sasori. It was only thanks to his armor's impressive reaction time and his own reflexes that the puppet master was able to avoid being blasted by his own attack.

As soon as he had sidestepped the first chakra blast, his other hand moved against his will and fired a second chakra blast at Shizuka, who deflected it to the side in the same manner.

"Amazing, Shizuka-chan. You've passed your final exam with flying colors, and I think its safe to say you've blown my mind away," praised Choetsu with a shit-eating grin, "To think that you've become so proficient with the Deva Path in in such little time; you're not even limited by a five-second cool down period for your _Shinra Tensei_. Although, to be honest, that whole "five-second" bullshit is nothing but a myth. The only reason Nagato's Deva Path was ever limited by that was because he was channeling his Rinnegan's power through a dead corpse."

Sasori narrowed his eyes behind his suit's faceplate, "Wait, so this whole thing was…nothing but a test? You had me fired a lethal weapon at a twelve-year old kid for the sake of a test?"

"Don't worry, Sasori-san," interjected Shizuka, not at all fazed by the earlier proceedings, "Choetsu-san told me about the test beforehand, so I was prepared, even though I didn't know exactly when he was going to start it. And I passed, didn't I? I think that's all that matters."

Sasori nodded, "If you say so. But still; what would you have done if she failed, Choetsu-sama?" Despite being an unrepentant murderer, with the Third Kazekage being one of his victims, Sasori wasn't very keen on unintentionally killing twelve-year old girls for the sake of a test.

"Oh, that's easy. I'll even give you a demonstration," answered Choetsu before turning towards Shizuka, "Do you trust me, your highness?"

Shizuka's Rinnegan eyes blinked before she replied, "I…yes; I trust you, Choetsu-san. What do you want me to do?"

Choetsu gave the raven-haired kunoichi a reassuring smile before answering, "Just close your eyes, and wait. I'm going to have puppet boy fire at you again, but this time, don't stop it with your Rinnegan, okay."

Shizuka nodded, before doing just that. With her eyes closed and her Rinnegan inactive, the princess of Nadeshiko was at Choetsu's mercy.

Then, the Rikudou Hiraishin turned towards Sasori, "Would you be a dear, Sasori-chan, and fire something deadly in lil' Shizuka-chan's direction. Or do I have to assert myself again?"

With a sigh and a hint of reluctance, Sasori brought up his arm and fired a Bakuton rocket from the wrist. The rocket flew through the air in seemingly-slow motion towards its target. To annihilate such a (relatively) fragile target, the rocket wouldn't even have to detonate. Just the kinetic impact alone would smash her head into a pulp.

But, when it came within inches of touching Shizuka's face, the most unusual thing happened. The air around the missile began to distort. It was like the fabric of space-time itself was becoming warped and twisted, as everything within a certain volume was being sucked in. Mere milliseconds later, the entire missile that Sasori had fired was completely absorbed and compressed into a pinhole-sized dimensional anomaly, leaving not a single trace of it left in the universe.

"Well there you go; nothing says "fuck you" to your offense better than some good-ol' fashioned _Jikukan Ninjutsu_," said Choetsu, his eyes now bearing the Juubi's _dojutsu_ rather than the Rinnegan, "And as far as space-time techniques go, _Kamui _is pretty damn up there."

Sasori gaped for a moment at the Rikudou Hiraishin's impressive demonstration of his control over space-time, before quickly composing himself and filing the incident along with all of the other crazy/borderline impossible things that Choetsu had done.

"C-can I open my eyes now, Choetsu-san?"

"Yes, Shizuka; my little demonstration is over," answered the blonde time traveler, "And I hope you're satisfied, puppet boy. Why don't you take off that bulky armor of yours and get some R and R before you have to leave on your next mission."

Sasori nodded, "Yes, I-…wait! Another mission? Already!"

"Yeah, bummer isn't it. From now on, savor every vacation," advised the Kamikage, "We have lots of work to do."

Sasori sighed before releasing the Kyokutanna, causing each of the individual armor pieces to break off and float around him for a few moments, before becoming resealed within Sasori's under-sheath in a series of smoke clouds popping. Walking out of the ensuing smokescreen was the Suna missing-nin, covered in nothing but the black, futuristic under-sheath layer.

"Can I get any details on this next mission?" asked the Hoshikuzu member.

"Of course! It's even simpler than your last mission; just some bodyguard duty. I don't even expect you to get in any scuffles," explained Choetsu, "You'll be accompanying Konan-chan, who will be leading Ame's first diplomatic envoy to Konohagakure. I'll be coming along too, of course. Departure is tomorrow."

Sasori's brow rose in curiosity, "A diplomatic mission to the Hidden Leaf, eh? That's sounds like something that has the potential to be either extremely boring, or extremely…_interesting_."

Uzumaki Choetsu smirked, "You don't even know the half of it."

* * *

><p>Somewhere in the Land of Rice Paddies:<p>

"Hello…Danzo."

"Oh, what a "pleasant" surprise. Welcome, Minato, to my little hiding spot. How nice of you to visit this old man, living in the shadows…"

"Oh, cut the crap! I have no time for banter. Sometime between now and my next office appointment, you, Shimura Danzo, will breath your last."

"Is that a threat, Yondaime?"

"No, Danzo. That…is a _promise_."

"Very well then…"

TBC

A.N. I love the feeling of a newly published chapter in the morning. Well, technically it's night time for me right now, but you get the point. I hope Tetsuma vs Jiraiya was an enjoyable read for y'all, as well as the rather unfortunate misunderstanding that has plagued Team 7. Pretty soon, Choetsu will be returning to Konoha, and a whole new bag of fun will be opening.

As for the highly-anticipated Yondaime vs Danzo; I need some feedback from the readers to determine how some things will go. Do you guys want me to dedicate the entire next chapter to Danzo's last battle and eventual defeat (no, this is not a spoiler; it was obvious from the beggining), or do you want me to spread out the battle over the next few chapters while also touching over other sides of the plot. Essentially, option one would have no breaks or detours at all in the next chapter; just Minato and Itachi versus Danzo and ROOT.

So, let me guys know in reviews what you think! And prepare yourselves for the ultimate culmination of the entire Danzo plotline; this is the end! Of course, just because the outcome is set in stone, don't think for a second that the battle will be lackluster. I have a lot of awesome stuff planned for the final confrontation, and it shall be EPIC!


	22. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: H-h-hello, th-this is H-Hinata, Hyu-Hyuga Hi-Hinata. I...I j-just wanted t-to let...to let you all k-know that e7...that e7cg13-san does not own Na-Na-Naruto-kun. H-he can't own...he can't own N-Naruto-kun be-be-because...NARUTO-KUN IS MINE! There I said it! This is so embarrassing...(turns red and faints)

Author's Note: Here we go, folks, Part 1 of Minato vs Danzo! I was originally going to have the entire battle one whole chapter, but I realize in mid-production that it would be far too long, and that you people would have had to wait to long for an update. So I'm splitting the final battle into two parts. Its better for the pacing anyways.

Chapter 21: The Yellow Flash vs the Darkness of Shinobi, Part One

_"Hello…Danzo."_

_"Oh, what a "pleasant" surprise. Welcome, Minato, to my little hiding spot. How nice of you to visit this old man, living in the shadows…"_

_"Oh, cut the crap! I have no time for banter. Sometime between now and my next office appointment, you, Shimura Danzo, will breath your last."_

_"Is that a threat, Yondaime?"_

_"No, Danzo. That…is a promise."_

_"Very well then…"_

Namikaze Minato, the _Kiiroi Senko _and Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, eyed the older man across from him; a deathly serious expression on his tanned face.

Shimura Danzo, the man who tried to kidnap his beloved Kurama, was less than ten feet away from him; there was nothing standing between Minato and getting revenge for his daughter.

It was only Minato's natural calm, even in combat situations, that held the blonde back from immediately slitting the war hawk's throat.

"Well, Minato; what are you waiting for? I never took you as one for hesitation," taunted Danzo, "Is that old fool Hiruzen and his soft ideals rubbing off on you."

Minato growled threateningly, "Don't you dare insult Sarutobi-sama. He was a much better man than you. And if you must know; I'm not hesitating. Despite your advanced age, I'm not dumb enough to assume that you have no hidden tricks to fall back on. In situations like this, charging head on is never a good idea. But if I wanted to kill you right away, you would have been dead the exact instant I arrived."

"Please, Minato; don't underestimate me," retorted Danzo with a sharp glare, "Like you said; it would be dumb to assume that I have no hidden tricks to fall back on. Like this for instance!"

With a single half Tiger seal, Danzo activated his trap. Suddenly, all fours walls of the room became covered in exploding tags, seemingly materializing out of nowhere. There were now enough explosives in the room to level an entire city block back in the Leaf.

"Recognize this? They're the same camouflaged exploding tags you invented! Right now, not just this room but the entire hideout has been rigged with them. They will all detonate at my command, destroying the entire base and killing both of us. It would only take a second," explained Danzo, his right index and middle fingers still locked in a half-Tiger seal.

"You're bluffing," accused Minato.

"Am I? Are you really going to gamble your life on that notion, Minato?"

"My life? Whatever do you mean?" inquired Minato, feigning ignorance, "Thanks to _Hiraishin_, I'm in no danger here. Before you can even mouth the word "_Kai_", I'll be half-away across the world. This trap of yours will achieve nothing but your own suicide."

"That maybe so," replied Danzo, "But how will _Itachi_, your lauded ANBU Commander, escape from the explosion? I'm pretty sure he's still currently standing in that hallway, just past my door."

Minato narrowed his eyes in contempt, "Do you really think you can threaten me with the life of my subordinate? Because, I assure you; it won't work. Itachi will be just fine."

"Then so be i-…UGH!" began Danzo before grunting in pain, as a kunai was rammed into his gut by the Yondaime. It had all happened too fast, he couldn't keep up; all he saw was the Fourth's signature yellow flash.

"H-how? I-I di-didn't see you throw a k-kunai, or tag me," stammered the war hawk in agony, blood running down from the side of his mouth, "D-Don't you need a m-marking to use *cough* your Hi-Hiraishin?"

"You know; I _could_ tell you that I tagged you when you weren't looking, or that I mastered Hiraishin to the point that I don't even need a _jutsu shiki_ anymore," said Minato smugly, "But that would be a lie. It was just a regular old _shunshin_. Thankfully, the distance was close enough and the target slow enough for it to work."

"N-No matter; my trap is still in effect!" grunted Danzo before forming another half-Tiger seal. Milliseconds later, the exploding tags lining the walls of the room, and presumably all of the tags throughout the entire hideout, sizzled loudly before detonating. An explosion was now converging on them from all sides, travelling at hyper-sonic velocities. It would reach and engulf them in a small fraction of a second.

There was a flash of yellow light.

The next thing Danzo knew, he was in an empty clearing surrounded by a border of tall trees. The Yondaime's kunai was still embedded in his stomach, and from it a blossom of pure pain radiated throughout his body. The wound was most certainly fatal. In the distance, a series of explosions could be heard. Danzo knew this could only mean one thing.

"H-Heh, so you choose not to save Itachi, huh? Rather strange coming from you, Minato," said Danzo through grueling breaths, "That the esteemed Fourth Hokage would sacrifice a loyal subordinate for the sake of one objective."

Minato twisted the kunai piecing Danzo, causing the pain racking his body to flare up, "I have no idea what you're talking about. Itachi is alive. I saved him."

"What…what are you talking about?" asked Danzo. He immediately received his answer when the blonde Hokage gave a smug smirk before dispelling in a pop of white smoke.

Danzo panicked, '_A shadow clone! Since when_…' With his weight no longer supported by the Yondaime's _kage bunshin_, the aged, veteran shinobi collapsed to the ground while clutching his bleeding wound. Then, a tri-pronged kunai landed next to his feet, inches away from nicking his ankle.

Turning around, the ROOT leader found, to his horror, both Minato and Itachi glaring at him from atop a tree branch. Neither of them had so much as a scratch or a singe on their persons; evidence that they had been able to escape the explosion.

"H-How?" mouthed Danzo, perplexed by the situation.

'_Did he really think he could fool me with my own invention? I noticed the tags the moment I arrived. Of course, I'm not dumb enough to tell him that_,' thought Minato.

'_Minato-sensei replaced himself with a shadow clone, while his real self stayed with me. It's incredible how he was able to do all that, without Danzo noticing_,' thought Itachi.

"I don't have to explain myself to you Danzo. Just know that," replied Minato, before teleporting behind his adversary and stabbing him in the back with a tri-pronged kunai, "this is the end for you."

Then, the Kiiroi Senko infused his weapon with vibrating _Raiton_ chakra, causing a shimmering blade of lightning to surround and emerge from the kunai. The Raiton blade extended, cutting through Danzo and exiting out his stomach, while causing the old man to grunt in anguish.

"I'm…sorry to…disappoint you, Minato…but…this is not…the end," muttered "Danzo" before his body started to become distorted, until, in his place, was a middle-aged man who Minato didn't recognize.

"Another _Shoten _clone, huh," spoke Minato, "Just as I suspected." Then, the Fourth Hokage turned and nodded to his Uchiha subordinate, who nodded back before dispelling in a pop of smoke. Itachi had also been just a shadow clone.

The real one was elsewhere.

* * *

><p>Somewhere on the path to Kumogakure no Sato, the real Shimura Danzo gave a long, startled pause, worrying his two bodyguards. The three individuals were hopping through the forest at blistering speeds.<p>

Ever since Aburame Torune and Yamanaka Fu had been eliminated by the Fourth during the failed kidnapping attempt of his daughter, Danzo began to rely on a new pair of elite ROOT agents to protect him.

To his left was Uchiha Koichi, and to his right was Hyuuga Nobuo. Both had been taken from their respective clans at a very young age, before being raised as loyal, dogmatic ROOT agents by Danzo himself.

Trailing behind Danzo, Koichi, and Nobuo was a small army of lesser-ranked ROOT agents, all of them dressed in full ANBU uniform, animal masks included.

"Is there something wrong, Danzo-sama?" inquired Koichi. The Uchiha was wearing a dark, navy-blue, high-collared shirt with a black vest over it, dark, baggy cargo pants, and rectangular sunglasses. On his back were a bow and a quiver of arrows, denoting his status as an archer.

His partner, Hyuuga Nobuo, was dressed in an oversized, grey trench coat and black slacks; a wardrobe choice that fooled people into thinking he was an Aburame. Covering his face was a mask, but unlike the animal masks worn by ANBU and ROOT, his was a white, ovular mask with angry red splotched covering it, making it look bloodstained. He also wore a black fedora.

"It seems that my Shoten clone has been compromised," answered Danzo.

"Does that mean the Yondaime will be able to intercept us?" questioned Nobuo.

Danzo shook his head, "No; thanks to my clone feint, Minato lost his window to intercept us in time."

"What do you mean, Danzo-sama?"

"By dealing with the Shoten clone instead of immediately going after the real me, the Yondaime gave us enough time to flee and get out of range of his _Sacred War Pulse _technique," explained the former Leaf elder.

"Isn't that the legendary finger tracking jutsu invented by the Nidaime?"

"That's correct. Because of my experiences fighting under Senju Tobirama, I'm well acquainted with the capabilities of the Sacred War Pulse…and its limitations. Based on what I remember, we should've passed the maximum tracking range of the technique about several minutes ago. Which means that, if Minato was aware of my Shoten clone from the beginning, he might have been able to track us; but now it's too late."

His two most trusted subordinates nodded at him, before Danzo continued, "Just in case though, I'm going to start unlocking "that". You can never be too sure." Then, the old war hawk procured a key from his robe, before he started undoing the locks on the bulky, golden gauntlet encasing his bandaged arm.

Little did he know, his every movement was being watched from the sky by a certain crow-masked ANBU Commander.

Flashback:

_When Uchiha Itachi had thrown the Hokage's special tri-pronged kunai, he had remained behind to assist his superior if ever needed. But, he didn't expect the Yondaime to come to him so soon._

_"It's definitely a trap," said Minato immediately after teleporting to Itachi's location in the hallway. _

_"W-what's going on, Minato-sensei," responded Itachi in a perplexed tone, "Shouldn't you be in that room with Danzo?"_

_"Don't worry. I replaced myself with a clone faster than Danzo could react," explained the Fourth, "As soon as I arrived, I immediately noticed that the walls of Danzo's room were covered from top to bottom with my special, camouflaged exploding tags. It looks like this hallway is too. And I would bet my big, fat Hokage salary that the entire base has been rigged to blow."_

_"You mean he plans to sacrifice himself to kill us!" questioned Itachi in shock. Danzo didn't seem like that kind of person._

_"No," replied Minato while shaking his head, "Danzo isn't the type of man to make the sacrificial play. It's definitely just a ruse. I'm guessing…Shoten clones, maybe."_

_Itachi nodded in agreement, "I concur with that theory, sensei. But what are you going to do?"_

_"I've got a plan. But we have to hurry; we only have while my clone is distracting Danzo to execute it," spoke Minato, before crouching down and placing his two fingers on the floor. Closing his eyes, the blonde Kage began concentrating, sending out a wide-area chakra pulse to ascertain subtle vibrations in the Earth._

_When he was finished he said, "Good, I managed to find him and his ROOT contingency. And they were at the very edge of my tracking range at that. To think, if I had actually fallen for his deception, they would have gotten too far away for me to track."_

_Itachi smiled, "I think I know where you're going with this, sensei."_

_Minato smirked at him in response, before placing a hand on Itachi's shoulder. The next instant, there was a yellow flash, and both Konoha-nin were in the middle of a woodland clearing above ground. _

_Then, the Yellow Flash took his hands off Itachi's shoulders before summoning a Hiraishin kunai to his hand. Taking the throwing knife, Minato chucked it into the sky as hard as he could. A millisecond later, the Yondaime teleported to his thrown kunai, caught it expertly with his hand, and threw it again, this time in the direction of his target, Danzo._

_He continued this process of porting to a thrown knife, catching it, and throwing it again, over and over until he was finally close enough to Danzo's current location. When this happened, Minato let the thrown kunai fly through the air on its own before he teleported back to Itachi's location, using the Hiraishin tag he had placed on his shoulder._

_"I've done my part. Now it's your turn, Itachi," said Minato, before completing a set of hand seals. The Uchiha heir watched as a space-time barrier formed in front of him, connected to the kunai Minato had thrown. Itachi gave one last nod to his mentor, before creating a shadow clone and running into the barrier._

_When he was on the other side, Itachi was put in free fall for a short while before the commander used Kuchiyose no Jutsu to summon a giant crow, large enough for him to ride on. The giant crow was a summon he rarely called on, preferring to use swarms of normal crows. _

_All that was left for him to do was to spot his targets. And that was child's play for him and his well-developed Sharingan eyes; he spotted Danzo and his entourage of ROOT agents almost immediately._

_Now, he just needed to wait for the signal_.

Flashback End

The signal of course, being the dispelling of the kage bunshin he had left behind with Minato. When Itachi had received the signal, he took out the Hiraishin kunai his mentor had given him, before throwing it downwards with all his might. The kunai landed in the middle of the forest, about a mile from Danzo's location.

The exact instant that the kunai had become embedded in the forest floor, a yellow flash appeared, heralding the arrival of the Yondaime Hokage. Minato immediately made a dive for the kunai before grabbing it and doing a barrel roll on the ground. When he was on his feet again, the Kiiroi Senko made a 360˚ clockwise turn to gain momentum before throwing his tri-pronged kunai in Danzo's direction.

Meanwhile, a tree-hopping Danzo had just finished unlocking the golden gauntlet encasing his bandaged arm, when a familiar kunai whizzed past his head. The former council member watched in horror as Namikaze Minato flashed on the spot before instantly catching the special projectile. Then, the Fourth Hokage pushed off a tree branch before doing several twirls in mid-air, followed by another toss of his Hiraishin kunai.

Danzo barely reacted in time, doing a somersault-esque flip to evade the thrown projectile. The old man sighed in relief while upside down as the throwing knife passed in between his legs. But he forgot one key fact; Minato could teleport anywhere within a ten meter radius of each Hiraishin kunai.

The next thing he knew, Danzo was tackled in mid-air by a teleporting blonde Kage, before a yellow flash blinded his vision. A millisecond later, both Minato and Danzo were gone from the forest. The kunai that Minato had thrown before intercepting Danzo continued forward on its trajectory, just narrowly missing a tree hopping Koichi before becoming embedded in a tree.

Koichi halted after landing on the nearest tree branch. The Uchiha was cursing himself; he had seen what happened to his master thanks to the Sharingan, but it had occurred far too fast for him to react. From the Yondaime's arrival to Danzo being teleported away; the entire scene had probably lasted less than a second. And he was helpless to stop it.

"Nobuo!" yelled Koichi, addressing his partner, who had just flickered in right next to him, "Do you see Danzo-sama anywhere?"

Hyuuga Nobuo, who was mute, promptly formed a single seal, activating his Byakugan. The elite ROOT agent searched the surrounding area for dozens of kilometers, using the impressive range of his _dojutsu_ in an attempt to find his disappeared master.

A short while later, Nobuo ended his search and shook his head, finding himself empty-handed. Koichi grimaced, "Damn! Where could the Yondaime have taken Danzo-sama?"

* * *

><p>When Danzo came to, he was tumbling across a cobbled, stone path. When his body finally slowed to a stop, the old man simply laid there for a short second, before picking himself off the floor and looking around. He recognized the location.<p>

It was a massive bridge, built out of grayish-blue stones, connecting the gap between two mountains. At the end of the bridge was a towering _Torii_ gate, carved out of that same blue stone, with the kanji for "samurai" emblazoned on it. At the top of the gate was the carved statue of a sheathed katana, with weights hanging off both ends. At the midpoint of the bridge stood two circular, stone platforms that were placed directly across from each other.

This was Samurai Bridge, located in the Land of Iron. It was a fitting location for a final battle.

Acting quickly, the old war hawk unraveled the bandages surrounding his right arm, revealing the grotesque appendage covered in withered, unnatural skin and stolen Sharingan eyes. Then, the former Leaf elder began a sequence of hand seals.

Danzo had just barely finished the last seal when Minato flashed behind him, using the Hiraishin tag he had placed after tackling the old man earlier, before stabbing him through the back and out the stomach with a Raiton blade.

Danzo gasped in shock and pain, as the saber of shimmering chakra exited out his gut and electrocuted his entire body, knocking him out cold. Minato, proud of his handiwork, deactivated the Raiton blade, allowing Danzo's body to collapse to the floor. The old war hawk was dead before he even reached the ground.

After checking the man's pulse, Minato announced, "Its over. He's dead."

* * *

><p>Somewhere in Amegakure no Sato:<p>

"Hmm, let's see. Is there anything interesting going on?" muttered Uzumaki Choetsu to himself, while meditating in a lotus position on the roof of Nagato's citadel, "Well, I can see that Kurama is having some weird dreams in Wave, Auntie Sakura's _chibi_ self and her new team are on their first C-Rank, Kushina-baa-chan is having an epiphany back in Konoha, and that perverted hermit Jiraiya is relaxing at some brothel after his long battle with Sasori's puppet - oh god, I really didn't need to see that!"

"Damn, it's all so _boring_," continued the _Rikudou Hiraishin_ in a whiney tone, "Where's the excitement, where's the craziness, where's all that thrill I crave so much! Wait; hold on…what's this? Is that…my grandfather? And the old coot, Danzo! Whoa; this looks like it has some serious potential for amusement. I should really check it out-…"

"Ohhh, Na-Nagato, n-not out here. Y-You might…ahhhh," moaned a familiar voice from nearby. Choetsu twitched heavily.

'_Damn those two; I can't believe they're at it again. Well, I can't really blame them. With Nagato's new hormones and Konan's sexiness, it's a wonder those two ever leave their bedroom. But still; I'm not gonna be able to concentrate if I keep hearing them in the background. I should just leave. Besides, a front row seat might be a better idea for this occasion_,' mused the blonde Rinnegan-user before vanishing in a yellow flash.

* * *

><p>Choetsu reappeared on top of the Torii marking the end of Samurai Bridge, just in time to watch a barrage of air bullets erupt from the ground where Danzo's body lay. He immediately hid himself with an extremely powerful <em>genjutsu<em>; one that even Minato's AGS would not be able to detect.

The air bullets came within an inch of Minato's bewildered face, before the blonde Hokage composed himself and teleported away. The bullets bursting from the floor kicked up a small amount of dust and debris, whilst simultaneously blasting an opening in the ground from which Danzo jumped out of.

Minato, who had teleported back to the spot where he had originally arrived, stared at Danzo in momentary confusion. '_Did I kill a shadow clone, back then_…?' His puzzlement lasted for only a brief moment in time, before his mind was back in "battle mode". Minato threw the Hiraishin kunai in his hand, nailing Danzo in the back before he could so much as turn around.

The fast-moving projectile, infused with piercing lightning chakra, easily drilled through Danzo's body before exiting out the other side. Danzo gasped as blood burst out of his wound and mouth. Milliseconds later, Minato teleported to the thrown kunai and caught it, before making an 180˚ and swinging the Raiton blade emitted from his tri-pronged kunai.

With a slash of shimmering azure, Danzo was decapitated, his head landing a few feet away while his headless body slumped to the ground. Minato relaxed, dispelling his Raiton blade and relaxing his grip on the kunai. Danzo had to be dead now. There was no doubt about it.

He was proven wrong a second later, when a still-alive-and-kicking Danzo tried to sneak up on him from behind. This prompted the blonde Hokage to turn around and slash Danzo in the chest, sending the man tumbling away with a long gash across his torso. When the Sandaime's rival had regained his footing, he immediately began a short series of hand seals, before exclaiming, "_Wind Release: Stream_!"

The ROOT leader fired a stream of pressurized air from his mouth, aiming at Minato's feet. The blonde speedster jumped back, avoiding the _Fuuton_ stream, which blasted the ground in front of him instead, kicking up a dust cloud that obscured his vision. Danzo tried to follow that up with another Fuuton, but Minato beat him to the punch.

The Namikaze leaped from the dust cloud, using a front flip to gain momentum before throwing two, chakra-infused Hiraishin kunai. "_Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_ (Kunai Shadow Clone Technique)!" exclaimed Minato, as the two projectiles multiplied into a dozen. The barrage of tri-pronged kunai became embedded in the ground, surrounding Danzo.

Realizing the implications of being surrounded by Minato's jutsu shiki, Danzo immediately attempted to escape the perimeter using _Shunshin no Jutsu_. Before he could flicker away, however, a seizure-inducing series of bright, yellow flashes erupted around him.

The small space within the border of kunai became a radiant murder-storm of total annihilation, as the Yondaime Hokage became everywhere at once, occupying the totality of that specific area. Each flash of light represented a dozen, a hundred, a thousand, or even a million separate slashes, all taking place within the smallest iota of seconds and milliseconds. And each flash of light blended together in an endless barrage, as if they were bullets being fired from a rapid-fire machine gun. When it reached its climax, there was one, final yellow flash, more luminescent and more magnificent than all the others, and then the waltz of death was over.

At the aftermath was Namikaze Minato, standing posed in a crater marking exactly where Danzo had original been standing, before the Kiiroi Senko's ultimate technique had utterly destroyed him. The old war hawk's entire body was disintegrated at the molecular level, due to the storm of flashes that had erupted all around him.

Meanwhile, on top of the Torii gate, Choetsu was whistling to himself, "Damn, Minato-_jiji_ sure knows how to pull out all the stops. That was the legendary _Hiraishin no Senko Mai_ (Flash Dance of the Flying Thunder God) wasn't it. It's a technique that takes full advantage of Hiraishin no Jutsu by using teleportation to massacre the target with an endless barrage of cuts from all angles, vectors, and directions."

"It's like being hit with _Fuuton: Rasenshuriken_, except there are even _more_ cuts and each separate cuts reaches an even _deeper _level. And the scariest part is that each cut is completely manual, unlike Rasenshuriken. But of course, my father eventually improved on it during his time, and I myself have mastered it completely, taking the technique to a whole other level. The new generation always surpasses the old, after all."

Although he was speaking out loud, neither participants in the conflict could hear him, thanks to his genjutsu. Minato relaxed as his perimeter of shadow clone kunai dispelled in a series of popping smoke. He was absolutely sure this time that Danzo was finally dead. There was no conceivable way for anyone to survive the Flash Dance.

The Fourth Hokage was proven wrong again, when a vacuum-enhanced shuriken erupted from the dust cloud still standing behind him. The shuriken was surrounded by a razor-sharp disc of wind chakra, giving it increased cutting power and speed. Minato sensed it immediately, but in his shock, failed to react until it was already a centimeter from his back.

But for the Yellow Flash of the Leaf, a centimeter of space was all that was needed. Letting go of the Hiraishin kunai in his hand, Minato used it as a stationary beacon so that he could teleport a meter to his side. This allowed him to basically sidestep the careening shuriken, without actually undertaking any physical movement.

Next came Danzo, charging out of the dust cloud using shunshin, with an ordinary kunai in hand. Minato responded by turning around and stretching out his hand in his enemy's direction. From his palm blossomed an array of sealing characters, creating a space-time barrier between Minato and Danzo.

Then, Minato summoned the Hiraishin kunai he had let go of earlier to his other hand, before throwing it in the direction of Danzo's vacuum shuriken. The kunai, travelling with immense velocity, easily overtook the shuriken, which seemed to be moving at slow motion in comparison, despite having been thrown an entire second earlier.

When it passed by, Minato moved the other end of his space-time barrier in front of the vacuum shuriken, using his thrown kunai as a beacon again. This resulted in the shuriken flying into the second space-time barrier, before exiting out the first space-time barrier and horizontally bisecting the charging Danzo in mid-shunshin.

That entire exchange, from Danzo throwing his shuriken to getting bisected by his own weapon, lasted a mere three seconds.

"Like I mentioned last chapter," said Choetsu, after having witnessed the short engagement, "Nothing says "fuck you" to your offense like good, old fashioned _Jikukan Ninjutsu_. Too bad that old fart won't stay down. _Izanagi _can be a real bitch sometimes."

Minato watched acutely as the two halves of Danzo's body fell to the floor. There was no doubt that the old war hawk was dead. The question was; would he stay dead? He got his answer immediately, when Danzo's corpse faded into nothingness.

'_Something's definitely up_,' thought Minato, '_Why won't he stay dead? Have I been killing some type of clone this whole time, or is it something else_…"

* * *

><p>Thanks to his acute sense of vision, Itachi was able to witness the exact moment when the Yondaime had teleported Danzo off the battlefield. In fact, that was actually his cue to initiate the next phase of the mission. Eliminate ROOT.<p>

Itachi slammed his palm against the back of his giant crow, sending his summon back to the Animal Realm in a cloud of white smoke. From the cloud leaped Itachi, who skydived in free fall towards the ground. When he got close enough to be in range, the ANBU Commander did a few maneuvers in mid-air to right himself, before forming a series of hand seals.

"_Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu_ (Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique)!" exclaimed Itachi, before releasing a massive volley of medium-sized fireballs from his mouth. The pyrotechnical barrage bombarded the forest in a rain of searing flames, igniting an enormous inferno that blazed a swath of destruction through the woods. Nearly half of the ROOT contingency was burned to death by Itachi's opening technique, while the others reacted in time and escaped via shunshin.

Still in free fall, Itachi gazed down at the raging forest fire he had caused, and briefly wondered, in the very corner of his mind, how much ecological damage had just resulted from this one, single jutsu. Of course, he quashed that train thought the next instant, preferring to worry about his mission and the task at hand.

Something jumped out at him in the corner of his vision, prompting the Sharingan-user to pull out a kunai from his ANBU cloak and deflect the incoming projectile that had been fired at him from the forest. The projectile was revealed to be an arrow, with a black shaft and a silver arrowhead. Wrapped around its center was an exploding tag, which promptly exploded in the ANBU Commander's face.

Of course, Itachi being Itachi was easily able to escape the explosion via a quick shunshin, before reappearing on top of a tree branch in the forest. After sensing another incoming arrow from behind him, the eldest son of Uchiha Fugaku did a back-flip to evade.

While he was upside down, facing in the opposite direction of the arrow, Itachi traced the projectiles trajectory back to its origin with his eyes. It didn't take him long to spot the archer, a dark-haired man with sunglasses and a bow in hand. He only caught a glimpse of him for a short second, however, before gravity re-orientated Itachi's body to be right-side up, facing in the arrow's direction.

That's when he noticed the seal paper wrapped around the still-flying arrow's shaft. It wasn't an exploding tag, like earlier. Instead, it was a storage seal. The very instant that Itachi's gaze fell upon the storage seal, it lit up briefly with an azure radiance before bursting in a cloud of white smoke. From the brief pop of smoke, flew another arrow, heading straight for Itachi's head.

Itachi was just barely able to catch the second arrow, due to his quick reflexes, before realizing that it was also rigged with an exploding tag. With no time to flicker away, the Uchiha resorted to throwing the volatile arrow back at its archer, but it literally exploded a few seconds after Itachi's fingers let go of it.

The resulting explosion was close enough to engulf the raven-haired teenager in a cloud of smoke, but too far to cause any actual damage. It actually proved to be an advantage for Itachi, as his adversary was caught off-guard when a massive fireball emerged from the smokescreen, heading straight for the other Uchiha.

Koichi responded by flashing through a set of hand seals before exclaiming, "_Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu _(Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique)!" and launching a massive fireball of his own to counter Itachi's Grand Fireball.

'_It seems that even members of my own clan have been "recruited" into the ranks of ROOT_,' mused Itachi, as he witnessed the enemy match his own technique.

The Katons collided at the mid-point between the two foes, battling for dominance for a brief moment before Itachi's jutsu completely overwhelmed Koichi's response. Koichi watched in horror as the blazing conflagration pushed forward towards his location. Left with no choice, Koichi abandoned his own jutsu before evading the incoming fireball by leaping to a nearby tree.

When he landed on the branch, Koichi lunged forward whilst simultaneously firing a series of arrows in quick succession, remaining mobile at the same time. The 17-year old commander immediately noticed the incoming projectiles, but paid them no real concern.

He simply opted for slightly and subtly shifting his body parts at the exact moments, allowing the arrows to miss by the narrowest of margins, while looking very bored and apathetic. He caught the last arrow with his hand, in a nonchalant manner, before snapping it in half.

This frustrated Koichi to a high extent, as the man took great pride in his archery and marksmanship. In response, the Uchiha bowman jumped, doing a front flip in mid-air to gain momentum, before cocking a single arrow and infusing it with some of his chakra. A second later, the arrow was released, and then Koichi began forming half-seals with his free left hand.

When he finished them, the fired arrow multiplied into several, as a result of Koichi's _Arrow Clone Technique_. The salvo of arrows flew towards Itachi, ready to impale him with extreme prejudice. Unwilling to become a human arrow-cushion, Itachi quickly jumped out of the trajectory of the incoming projectiles.

Unfortunately for him, Koichi had planned for this occurrence. Forming another set of half-seals with his free hand, the Uchiha archer uttered the words, "_Ninpou: Susanoo no Hanketsu _(Ninja Art: Judgement of Susanoo) followed by a dramatic hand wave. Suddenly, the wave of arrow clones re-orientated themselves, as if being manipulated by a telekinetic force.

Now, Itachi was surrounded from all directions by Koichi's arrows, which were floating in mid-air waiting for his signal. With another, inward wave of his free hand, the elite ROOT agent sent his arrow clones converging upon the ANBU Commander. There would be no escape for him this time.

Before the arrows could impale Itachi, however, there was an abrupt flash of light, blinding Koichi. The next thing he knew, _he_ was skewered by his own projectiles, floating in amidst a background of pure white. When the white faded away, he was left standing in an empty forest clearing. The arrows were gone, but the excruciating pain still remained. He couldn't move his body at all.

Standing in front of Koichi was the Konoha ANBU Commander he had been fighting, dressed in his ANBU cloak and a menacing crow mask.

Surrounding them, on all sides, were the bodies of Koichi's fellow ROOT agents.

* * *

><p>An entire minute had passed since Minato teleported Danzo and himself to Samurai Bridge, and the Yondaime had already killed his foe a total of four times. Yet the old war hawk just wouldn't stay dead. The possibility of clones was no longer a plausible explanation, thanks to Hiraishin no Senko Mai.<p>

Because the Flash Dance manually disintegrated a target at such a deep and precise level, the Yondaime could use it to distinguish clones from real people, based on the body's reaction to being sliced apart, molecular by molecule. And Danzo's body had reacted exactly like a real person's body would have. He couldn't have been a clone.

Minato's eyes narrowed, alert, when Danzo respawned behind him; reappearing in a flicker of black. "_Wind Release: Slash_!" bellowed Danzo, making a 360˚ turn to gain momentum before releasing a slash of sharpened air from his arm. The Yondaime turned around before evading the incoming vacuum slash with a frontward flip.

When he landed on his feet, Minato immediately brought his hands together, instantly forming a Rasengan in his cupped hands before firing it off as a projectile. After over a decade of using the Rasengan, the Hokage had mastered it to the point where he could use it as a long-range attack, something none of the other handful of Rasengan-user in the world could do.

The Rasengan travelled in a straight line towards Danzo, but Minato prematurely detonated it about midway between himself and his target. The resulting wave of force released from the exploding sphere of spiraling chakra collided against Danzo's body, sending the warmongering extremist flying across the bridge.

Choetsu watched in amusement as the Sharingan-stealer passed through the Torii, before painfully and forcefully crashing up against a cliff-face beyond the bridge end, right next to a Hiraishin kunai that Minato had thrown earlier in the battle. One yellow flash later, and the Fourth had Danzo pinned against the wall.

Minato had his foe gripped by the neck, allowing him to mark a Hiraishin tag at the point of contact between his palm and Danzo's throat. He briefly pondered the possibility of letting Danzo go, and then using the marking he had placed to kill the former elder when he least expected it. But just letting him leave would seem far too suspicious, and besides; Minato wanted to deal with him _now_.

'_So; I have a guy who is definitely not using clones, but can somehow come back to life every time I kill him_,' thought Minato, while holding his kunai to Danzo's stomach, ready to stab him at a moment's notice, '_There are three possibilities. The first is genjutsu, but I highly doubt it. My anti-genjutsu seal would have detected and broken any illusion he tried to use on me, with the exception of Kotoamatsukami. But the eye of Shisui which Itachi had given me takes care of that possibility._'

"How are you doing this, Danzo?" questioned Minato in cold fury, "I killed you a total of four times now, one of which was total disintegration. How the hell are you still alive?"

"I've survived many wars Minato, including all three of the Great Shinobi World Wars," said Danzo in response, "And I didn't survive them by unnecessarily revealing key information to the enemy. I'm not telling you anything."

Minato frowned before jamming his knife into Danzo's stomach, causing the old man to gasp. It wasn't a deep cut, meant to be fatal. Its purpose was to cause Danzo some pain; to get him talking.

"It doesn't matter, Danzo," continued Minato, "I have ways of making you talk. You're at my mercy right now."

Danzo smirked at him, before replying, "I'm afraid it's the other way around, Minato. _You_…are at _my_ mercy." Then, the traitorous councilman ripped the bandages off his right eye, using his free hand. With the wrappings undone, Danzo's stolen Sharingan was revealed. The three black _tomoe_ surrounding his pupil started revolving faster and faster, until they converged together, forming the four-point shape of Uchiha Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan.

"Now then; Namikaze Minato, I command you to-…"

"Command me to what? You have no power over me!" interjected Minato, before opening his mouth as wide as he could, revealing the black, feathery head of a crow just peaking out of his throat. The crow's eye bared Shisui's other Mangekyo, an exact mirror of the one in the war hawk's right eye socket. Danzo gaped in bewilderment at this stunning reveal.

Minato returned his earlier smirk, before continuing, "Surprised, Danzo? Were you, perhaps, hoping to end this battle quickly with _Kotomatsukami_? Or did you think you could use the most powerful genjutsu in the world to turn me against my own village? Well, I'm sorry to tell you this, but it won't work."

"H-how…since…since when?" stammered Danzo, in a combination of shock and the pain from being stabbed, "Where exactly did you get that eye?"

"I've survived many wars, Danzo, including the Third Great Shinobi World War. And I didn't survive them by unnecessarily revealing key information to the enemy. I'm not telling you anything," echoed the Fourth Hokage before driving his kunai further into Danzo's gut. Minato added a bit of lightning chakra into the mix, resulting in Danzo's electrocution and subsequent death.

After killing the Shimura for the fifth time, Minato sighed before remaining to observe Danzo's corpse for a few seconds longer. While doing so, he continued his pondering from earlier, '_The second option is some type of advanced healing factor; like regeneration. But that's also highly unlikely. The chance of possessing a healing factor strong enough to allow regeneration from being cut on the molecular level by my Flash Dance is exceedingly rare. Plus, the way that Danzo's corpse simply disappears after each death, before a living Danzo respawns nearby, doesn't at all suggest a form of regeneration_."

'_That only leaves the third option_…' finished Minato, before watching Danzo's corpse vanish once again. Curiously, just before the body faded away completely, Minato noticed one of the Sharingan eyes lodged in Danzo's abomination of a right arm closed itself shut.

Before he could ponder this any further, a massive explosion of white smoke erupted back at the bridge. Minato turned around, only to watch as gargantuan figure emerged from the cloud of smoke. The giant was a massive chimera-like with figure with predominantly elephantine characteristics, including an enormous trunk of a nose.

However, it also had tiger-like limbs, dark orange fur covering most of its body, and bandages wrapped around its head, similar to that of its summoner. A pair of tusks sprouted out from its lower mouth, and there was a piece of armor covering the base of its trunk.

"Oh, it seems like the old fart has decided to bring out his Baku summon," commented Choetsu, still atop the Torii gate, "Said to be a devourer of dreams and nightmares, it's honestly just an over-glorified vacuum cleaner. A vacuum cleaner that exceedingly reminds one of the bastard child of a retarded elephant and a deformed tiger, at that."

'_Let's see how Ji-chan deals with this. I'm beginning to get the feeling that this particular battle is shaping up to be the most exciting thing I've seen since I got here. My grandfather truly lives up to his illustrious reputation_…"

"So, he's still alive," muttered Minato in an annoyed tone, upon witnessing the Baku, "And this time he brought a nasty friend along with him."

'_It's definitely the third option then. __I'm fairly certain now that Danzo is using Izanagi, a forbidden kinjutsu invented by the Uchiha clan long ago_,' thought Minato, thinking back to the Sharingan he had seen close on Danzo's arm,'_One of the most powerful techniques in history, it was said to be able to transform one's imagination into reality. And somehow, Danzo is using that ability to automatically resurrect himself after every death_."

"_The problem is that I know nothing else about this jutsu, or how to counter it. All I know is that it utilizes Yin-Yang Release, and that every use seals the user's sight away; which explains the arm full of Sharingan. The last documented use of the forbidden technique was during the Uchiha Clan Wars of centuries past, long before the creation of hidden villages_.'

As soon as it had arrived, the Baku began its powerful suction, drawing in a massive breath of air and dragging Minato towards its location. Instead of flailing helplessly while being pulled through the air, like most victims of the Baku, Minato choose to pull out a Hiraishin kunai before throwing it at the enormous chimera.

This action became futile when Danzo himself entered the fray by shooting a Baku-enhanced stream of wind from his mouth, blowing the tri-pronged projectile far out of range. Then, the old war hawk flashed through another pair of seals before announcing, "_Fuuton: Shinku Taigyoku _(Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere)!" and compressing the surrounding air into a single, crushing sphere of wind chakra.

Danzo expelled the Vacuum Great Sphere a moment later, sending it careening through the air. As it flew towards its target Minato, who was likewise being drawn towards it via the suction, the copious amounts of air being drawn in by the Baku was becoming absorbed and compressed into the giant vacuum projectile, increasing its size and power.

Of course, the Yondaime could easily evade Danzo's jutsu via Hiraishin, but he decided to go for another approach. Forming a few hand seals, Minato declared, "_Fuuton: Daitoppa_ (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)!" before launching a massive gust of wind from his outstretched palms. His Daitoppa was further enhanced by the Baku's suction, allowing it match Danzo's vacuum technique.

Minato's gust of wind faded after successfully pushing back and then dispersing the Vacuum Great Sphere, giving Danzo a bit of pause. He wasn't aware that the Yellow Flash could also use Fuuton jutsu, especially not to this extent of being able to counter his own Fuuton.

In fact, the Namikaze was actually a user of Raiton, Fuuton, _and _Suiton techniques, although Raiton was his affinity. He was one of the few shinobi in the world to master the use of more than two nature types, with most of the others being Kages or kage-level shinobi as well.

Now, with Shinku Taigyoku taken care of, Minato only had to worry about the Baku and its powerful, vacuum cleaner-like suction. The Kiiroi Senko summoned a tremendous amount of chakra, centering it on his right palm, before adding immense centrifugal force to the mass of energy, causing it to rotate before expanding. When he was finished, Minato was left with a massive, glowing azure sphere of spiraling chakra, about as wide as he was tall.

With a cry of "_Oodama Rasengan_!" Minato released the sphere from his hand, firing it like a giant projectile. He didn't even need to aim, as the Baku's suction guided his attack for him. When the Oodama Rasengan ended up inside the Baku's mouth, it detonated, releasing an explosion of white and blue from within the unfortunate summon's gaping throat.

Seeing this, Danzo quickly de-summoned the creature, sending it back to the Animal Realm before the explosion could continue further. The resulting smokescreen engulfed him in a cloud of white, obscuring his form from the enemy.

After Minato landed on solid ground, he gazed on at the smoke cloud hiding his foe, before pondering a few things he noticed when catching a glimpse of Danzo earlier, before the Baku had been sent away.

'_The Hiraishin tag I marked him with before his last death…it's completely gone. And not only that, but the bandages wrapped around his stolen Sharingan eye are now back in place._'

This was worth looking into…

* * *

><p>Uchiha Koichi looked around at the field of bodies in utter dismay. And he had no other choice but to assume that the crow-masked ANBU standing in front of him was responsible.<p>

"W-What's going on? I…I was winning," stuttered the archer in disbelief, still paralyzed by the power of Itachi's Sharingan.

"You were trapped in my illusion," replied the genius prodigy.

"A genjutsu? B-But how? That…that's impossible! My Sharingan-…"

"Is nothing compared to the power of my eyes," interjected the other Uchiha, cutting him off mid-sentence. Then, the ANBU Commander removed his mask, revealing his identity to the other man, who promptly gasped in shock.

"_Uchiha Itachi_! You're the one I was fighting? Then it really was all an illusion. B-but since when? How…how long have I be-…"

"Doesn't matter," interrupted Itachi once again, "You are not privy to that information. Now…_go to sleep_." His last command was given while Itachi pointed his right index finger at the ROOT agent. A second later, the man's eyes drooped before closing, and then he was out like a light. Koichi's unconscious body promptly collapsed to the floor in a heap, along with all of the other ROOT bodies.

After seeing his most recent victim fall to the power of his well-crafted genjutsu, Itachi put on his mask again before perking at the feel of a new presence nearby. "There's no use hiding, Hyuuga," said Itachi out loud, startling Nobuo, who was behind a tree in the middle of planning his method of attack.

Now that the element of surprise was gone, Hyuuga Nobuo decided to walk out from behind his cover, before entering a basic _Jyuuken_ (Gentle Fist) stance. Itachi turned to face him, Sharingan eyes revolving wildly behind his mask. There was a single kunai held in his right hand, and a trio of shuriken in his left.

A toss of the shuriken began the match. Nobuo casually sidestepped them using a quick shunshin, before flickering back in place and using _Hakke Kusho_ (Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm) to launch a wave of chakra-laced air at his opponent. The vacuum palm collided against Itachi's body, knocking him off his feet. An instant later, the Uchiha's body dispelled in a pop of smoke, revealing his identity as a shadow clone.

Nobuo's Byakugan eyes narrowed at the reveal, before he felt a kunai being held against his neck from behind. The 17-year old smirked behind his mask, before gaping when he felt a palm resting against his back. The real Hyuuga Nobuo was behind him, while the one he had at knife-point was just a clone.

"Impressive," complimented Itachi, "You saw through my clone feint, and countered with your own. As expected from a Byakugan-user…"

"…but, you're efforts weren't nearly enough," added Itachi, causing Nobuo to gape soundlessly as their positions suddenly shifted. Itachi was standing behind him, with his kunai firmly jabbed into the Hyuuga's back.

"It seems that…even the "all-seeing" White Eyes of the Hyuuga clan are no match for my illusions."

* * *

><p><em>Samurai Bridge, two minutes since battle start<em>…

'_The Hiraishin tag I marked him with before his last death…it's completely gone. And not only that, but the bandages wrapped around his stolen Sharingan eye are now back in place,'_ pondered Minato, as his mind dwelled on the irregularities he had noticed.

The Yondaime's thoughts were interrupted when a barrage of air bullets erupted from the white smoke cloud, accompanied by an exclamation of, "_Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere_!" The air bullets rapidly converged on him, but Minato countered by jumping in the air and rotating through a series of elegant maneuvers, spinning and twirling and spiraling around each of the incoming vacuum projectiles like a leaf in the wind.

The Hokage's evasive acrobatics left him doing a hand stand on the ground, before using a break dance-like move to avoid another barrage of vacuum bullets. Then, the blonde did a back-flip straight from this position, causing one last volley of air bullets to just narrowly miss nicking his form. When he landed, Minato made a quick about-face before throwing two Hiraishin kunai in Danzo's direction.

The first kunai nicked Danzo's cheek, cutting a deep gash across the man's face and eliciting a pained wince from him. The second kunai was just narrowly dodged, passing him by, inches away from scratching his other cheek. But this was of no relief to Danzo, because at that exact moment, the Yondaime teleported above him in a yellow flash before smashing a Rasengan against his back.

The force of the A-Rank jutsu slammed Danzo into the ground, kicking up plenty of debris. The Yondaime flashed away again, just as his Rasengan detonated, blowing Danzo's body to smithereens and leaving a large crater behind.

Minato reappeared half-a-world-away, on the beach of his favorite, abandoned island. He had teleported there for the expressed purpose of mulling over the situation. He needed a plan.

_'Danzo is using a kinjutsu called Izanagi to respawn every single time he dies. I know that now. The problem is that I have no idea how to counter it_.'

_'I'm sure there's some sort of time limit to the technique, which means I could just keep killing him until it runs out. But I don't know how long that limit is. All I know is that after each individual use, one of his Sharingan eyes loses its light. I could calculate the time limit using the number of eyes he has on that arm of his, but I don't know how long each eye lasts_.'

'_But, I did manage to discover an interesting fact about Izanagi from Danzo's last two deaths. Namely that, whenever he respawns after a death, he doesn't respawn in the exact same state he was in at the moment of death. For example; when I killed him earlier while he had one of my jutsu-shiki marked on his throat, he didn't come back with the tag still on his body. In fact, it was completely gone_.'

'_Of course, there's always the chance that he removed the tag, or that he can control the state in which he is revived. But that possibility is rendered unlikely by one simple fact; the bandages around his right eye, which became undone earlier, were back in place after I killed him. If Danzo could control the state in which he respawns, then he would have kept the bandages undone. That would give him easier and quicker access to Kotoamatsukami, something he would want in case an ally were to show up and reinforce me_.'

'_If I'm going in the right direction with this train of thought, then that means Danzo's Izanagi restores him to a state based on a pre-determined time before death. Essentially, whenever Danzo dies, he respawns in the state he was a certain amount of time before dying_.'

'_For example; if I chopped Danzo's arm off, but he didn't die right away, and then I killed him ten seconds later, he would be revived with his arm still attached. But if I chopped his arm off and killed him, say, five minutes later, then maybe he would be revived with the arm gone_.'

'_If all of this is true, and Danzo's repawn state is time-based, then I think I have the perfect plan to counter Izanagi. But I need to confirm it one last time before proceeding_,' finished Minato before flashing away again.

When he reappeared on the bridge, Danzo was waiting for him. The Fourth caught a glimpse of his left cheek, and immediately noticed that it was no longer bearing the deep gash Minato's kunai had dealt him, right before his last death.

A cut that deep couldn't possibly have healed in such a short amount of time. This confirmed Minato's suspicions; the cut hadn't lasted long enough before Danzo died again to "set in", so when the old man respawned, the cut was gone.

"Took you a while to return, Minato," said Danzo mockingly, while taking out a kunai, "I was afraid that you might have retreated."

"You were afraid? If I were you, Danzo, I would've been jumping for joy. You could've survived another hour," taunted Minato, while summoning a tri-pronged kunai to his hand, "But unfortunately for you, I'm back, which means you'll be dead within ten minutes."

"Don't underestimate me, you fool!" retorted Danzo, before drawing a breath of wind chakra from his mouth. The breath came out as a shimmering stream that engulfed Danzo's kunai. Using his other hand, Danzo manipulated the gathered wind chakra into elongating, turning it into an ethereal vacuum blade. Then, he charged at Minato using Shunshin no Jutsu.

Minato countered with his own shunshin, while forming a Raiton blade from his kunai. The two blades, of wind and lightning respectively, collided against each other in an aurora of spectacular power. Danzo had the elemental advantage, but Minato's powerful chakra and superior physical strength kept the game even, as the two blades struggled against each other, battling for dominance.

TBC

A.N. And there you go; Part 1 of Minato vs Danzo. For all those Itachi fans out there; I'm sorry that I had them seperate so that Minato could face Danzo alone and Itachi could take care of the ROOT fodder. I assure you though, in the next part, Itachi will be joining Minato in the fight. And the amount of epicness I have planned for the next update is purely...epic (for lack of a better term).

So anyways, please read and review, people! Seriously; I update faster when I have more opinions to make me feel good about myself, hehehe.


	23. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I'm too lazy to think of a witty, original disclaimer today, so I think a "I don't own Naruto" will suffice.

Author's Note: HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! Here's my present to you all; an early update. Here we have Part 2 of Minato vs Danzo. Becaause of time constraints and family reasons, I had to rush the editing and proofreading part of this chapter's production, so I'm sorry if there are more errors than usual. But, I'll make up for it by having a very epic chapter...

Chapter 22: The Yellow Flash vs the Darkness of Shinobi, Part Two

_Samurai Bridge, two and a half minutes since battle start_…

Despite all his efforts, Shimura Danzo was only able to hold the Yondaime at bay for several precious seconds, before Minato's Raiton blade overwhelmed his vacuum-enhanced kunai, pushing the old war hawk back with great force.

'_Now that I'm sure that Izanagi's respawn state is time-based, I need to determine how long changes made to Danzo's person need to remain before his next death in order to "set in"_,' thought Minato, before flinging his Hiraishin kunai at the enemy. The thrown projectile nicked Danzo's side, just as the old man had regained his footing, leaving a gaping slash, '_Last time, when I marked a Hiraishin tag on Danzo's throat, it remained there for about 37 seconds before he died, but it didn't set in. So that means the pre-determined set time is longer than 37 seconds._'

Minato teleported to the kunai a fraction of a second after it passed Danzo, before catching the throwing knife and sending a roundhouse kick to Danzo's head. The kick sent him tumbling to the edge of the bridge, before another toss of a kunai forced the old man to evade by flipping to the side, before landing on one of the cylindrical stone platforms near the midpoint of the bridge.

'_I'm going to let Danzo live for exactly a minute, and then I'll kill him. When he respawns, I'll check to see if the wound I just gave him on his side is still there_.'

After landing on the platform, Danzo flashed through a series of hand seals before jumping up and exclaiming, "_Fuuton: Shinku Renpa _(Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves)!"

From his mouth, the Fuuton-user released a series of wind blades at various angles, which all converged on Minato's position.

The Fourth countered with a space-time barrier, which sent the vacuum air barrage to a different location. Then, he summoned one tri-pronged kunai to his hand, before swiveling the kunai's handle downwards so that the knife resembled an odd-looking pistol. "_Lightning Release: Spark Bullet_," announced Minato, while firing a bolt of electricity from his "pistol-mode" Hiraishin kunai.

The Shimura just barely countered by forming a _Vacuum Encampment Wall_ around himself at the last minute, which dissipated the lightning bolt. Of course, if the Yellow Flash had actually been trying to kill him with that Spark Bullet, Danzo wouldn't have been able to react in time.

'_The hard part is making it look like I'm still trying to kill him, even when I'm not_,' thought Minato, '_I can't have Danzo getting suspicious, after all_.'

Meanwhile, the _Rikudou Hiraishin_ was watching the unfolding events and his grandfather's actions with an intensity that seemed foreign on the normally blasé individual's facial expression.

"If this plan of yours is going where I think its going…then we're all going to be in for one hell of a ride. Minato-_jiji_, you sir are a genius! This is almost as fun as that one time I convinced the entire village that we were being attacked by an invisible Kyuubi. Cue mass panic, and the most hilarious prank in the history of all hilarious pranks."

"But I digress, so now back to the action at hand," continued Choetsu, as he watched the Yondaime demolish the platform Danzo was standing on with a fired Rasengan projectile, "I have this weird feeling of forgetting something, though…oh! Now I remember…"

Then, the blonde time traveler pulled out a bag of popcorn out of hammer-space, before he started digging in.

"Hmm…needs more butter…"

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, ANBU Commander Uchiha Itachi was currently holding Hyuuga Nobuo at knife point, with a kunai jabbed into the mute man's back. Like all of the other ROOT agents, Nobuo had fallen for Itachi's illusionary prowess. Even the sole Uchiha amongst the group was unable see past his <em>genjutsu<em>, even with the aid of the Sharingan.

But Nobuo wasn't finished just yet.

The air surrounding the Hyuuga ROOT agent became thicker, as his chakra intensified and seeped out of the miniscule pores called _tenketsu_. The chakra gathered in the space around him, before manifesting as a visible aura of blue. Itachi noticed this immediately, and was about to finish off his adversary when Nobuo suddenly started spinning.

The centrifugal force which this added to the surrounding chakra produced a shell of revolving energy, forcing the Yondaime's apprentice to jump back lest he become torn apart by Nobuo's _Kaiten_. When he was far enough away, Itachi threw a kunai with an attached exploding tag against the rapidly rotating sphere, before watching it detonate futilely.

A few seconds later; Nobuo grinded to a halt, ending his spinning technique, before taking out a pair of shuriken and tossing them at the Uchiha. Itachi evaded with _Shunshin no Jutsu_, flickering to the side and landing against the bark of a nearby tree. Then, the crow-masked ANBU pushed off against the tree, before throwing a kunai at Nobuo in mid-air.

Nobuo expelled chakra from the tenketsu points in his shoulder, deflecting the incoming kunai. Then, the Hyuuga caught the deflected kunai before throwing it back at its owner. Itachi dodged with another shunshin, before skidding against the ground. Flashing through a set of hand seals, Itachi announced, "_Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu_ (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique)!"

The raven-haired teenager inhaled a large breath of air, before expelling it as a massive gout of flames. The released Katon chakra formed an enormous fireball which approached Nobuo at a decent speed. In response, the ROOT member used another Kaiten to block and disperse the flames.

After he finished spinning, Nobuo braced his foot against the ground, before releasing a burst of chakra from his heel. The chakra burst caused him to accelerate into a shunshin, allowing Nobuo to charge at Itachi with blistering speeds.

"_Suiton: Suijinheki_ (Water Release: Water Encampment Wall)!" exclaimed Itachi, before expelling a torrent of water from his mouth. The water stream hit the ground in front of Itachi, exploding outwards into a torrential wave that stopped the charging Hyuuga in his tracks, before launching him back.

When he regained his balanced, Nobuo took out two kunai before throwing them at the ground next to Itachi. A second later, they both detonated; but not before the Uchiha had flickered away with a shunshin.

Itachi reappeared at the top of a tree, before searching around for his opponent. Nobuo's Byakugan spotted him first, however, before the trench coat wearing man flickered in front of him. As soon as he had arrived, the Hyuuga ROOT agent slammed Itachi with the combined index and middle fingers of both hands.

The force of the two strikes knocked Itachi back. Nobuo followed that up with four strikes, then eight strikes, then sixteen, thirty-two, and finally, sixty-four, completing his _Hakke: Rokujyuyonsho _(Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms) technique.

The sixty-four consecutive strikes to Itachi's tenketsu points disrupted and clogged the Sharingan-user's chakra circulatory system, sealing away his ability to use jutsu. Without that, Itachi had no hope of continuing the fight. Nobuo's victory was assured.

And then, Itachi's shadow clone exploded in Nobuo's face.

* * *

><p><em>Samurai Bridge, three and a half minutes since battle start…<em>

"57, 58, 59…" counted Minato under his breath, as he watched Danzo charge at him with another vacuum-enhanced kunai in hand. The extremist warmonger swung the blade of wind chakra at the Fourth, who avoided it by ducking before slamming his palm against the ground. At the point of contact, a complex array of sealing characters spread out from his palms, creating a circle of kanji covering the ground surrounding Danzo and Minato.

"60!" finished Minato, just as the sealing array below them lit up with an azure radiance. Next was a bright yellow flash followed by another blue flash, and both individuals were gone.

Minato had teleported away with _Hiraishin no Jutsu_, while Danzo's body had become sealed within the array. Then, the circle of seals exploded, taking Danzo and a huge chunk of the bridge with it.

The blonde Hokage reappeared next to one of his tri-pronged kunai, on the other end of the bridge. He waited a few seconds, before abruptly turning around and catching the kunai that a newly-revived Danzo had tried to backstab him with. The father of two smirked when he noticed the slash wound at Danzo's side, before breaking the kunai with a squeeze of his bare hand.

"Rasengan!" exclaimed Minato before driving a sphere of spiraling chakra into Danzo's gut. The old man gasped, right before the Rasengan detonated, blowing him away. Minato admired his handiwork for a bit before teleporting away again.

The Yondaime reappeared at the Hokage Monument, standing atop his own carved stone head. '_Alright, now that I know it takes at least one minute for Izanagi to "set in", I can proceed with my plan_.'

The Namikaze grabbed his throat, marking it with a specific "sticky-note" seal. Then, he created a single shadow clone with _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_. "You know what to do," said the seal master, addressing his bunshin. The clone nodded, before vanishing in a yellow flash.

'_Now, on to the next phase; hopefully, Danzo will take the bait_,' thought Minato before teleporting back to Samurai Bridge. His palm touched the ground upon arrival, leaving a _jutsu-shiki_ on the floor.

Danzo tensed when he sensed Minato's sudden appearance behind him, before instinctively flashing through a set of hand seals. "_Wind Release: Vacuum Wave_!" declared Danzo, before turning around and swinging his head, which released a wave of Fuuton chakra from his mouth. The wave coalesced into a flurry of vacuum wind blades, creating a chaotic storm of destruction around the blonde speedster.

Minato was ready though. Using the Hiraishin seal he had placed on the ground upon arrival, Minato exploded into a flickering chain of yellow flashes, occupying every point within a ten-meter radius of the tag. It was the same concept as _Hiraishin no Senko Mai_, except used defensively in order to evade the wave of vacuum blades.

When the Fuuton-masters technique ended, Minato flashed in front of him before creating another Rasengan. Instead of smashing it into Danzo's stomach like before, he simply held it in front of the old man before detonating it. The unidirectional explosion of chakra sent Danzo tumbling across the ground, before falling off the side of the bridge. Thanks to his quick Shinobi reflexes, however, the former Leaf elder was able to grab on to the edge of the bridge with one arm.

Using all his strength, Danzo pulled himself up before grabbing the edge with both arms. When he got there, however, the old man found Minato waiting for him, with a Hiraishin kunai in "pistol-mode" pointed downwards at his face. The Yondaime was giving him a menacing glare, while waves of killing intent rolled off his body. Any lesser man would have probably fainted from the KI alone, but the Shimura prevailed and held on.

"You might as well surrender now, Danzo," said the Fourth Hokage, "I just proved a few seconds ago that not even your fastest technique can even scratched me. In fact, you haven't touched me _at all_ this entire battle. How can you possibly hope to win if I keep evading everything you throw at me with my Flying Thunder God technique?"

"Same goes to you, Minato," retorted the ROOT leader, "How can you possibly hope to defeat me for good if I keep coming back after every death? Eventually, you'll get tired and run out of chakra, and I will kill you then. You can't keep fighting forever."

Minato shook his head, as if he was disappointed by Danzo's statement, before replying, "I don't think a battle of attrition is what you want, Danzo. Your technique will end long before I run out of chakra. And yes, I know all about that jutsu of yours; _Izanagi_."

Danzo cringed upon hearing his adversary utter the name of his life-saving _kinjutsu_, "H-How did you-…"

"That is of no concern to you. All you need to know is that eventually, your Izanagi will run out. And then, I will end this. So, unless you can somehow find a way to magically render me _immobile_, without a means to evade your attacks, then there's no hope for you!"

Upon hearing the word _immobile_, Danzo gave a smug smirk before flipping himself over Minato. When he landed, the two shinobi were facing in the opposite directions before they both turned around to charge at their enemy. Danzo narrowly sidestepped a slash from Minato's Raiton blade, before grabbing the Hokage's throat with his right hand.

The Kiiroi Senko grunted at the harsh contact, before slamming Danzo with a powerful kick to his side. The kick sent him flying away from the Yondaime, who rubbed his throat before preparing to fire a Spark Bullet at the enemy. Before he could do this, unfortunately, Danzo had skidded to a halt and formed a half-seal with his right index and middle fingers.

Then, Minato felt his entire body freeze as black markings started to spread all over his skin. It was an unbearable feeling, like some horribly constricting force was squeezing his body in a deadly vice. His muscles felt like a there was an extra layer surrounding them, ensconcing them, enveloping them in a layer of what could be anything from frozen ice, to rigid, unyielding stone, keeping them locked in place.

Even the flow of his chakra felt like it had been slowed to a complete stop; some invisible power was willing it to remain frozen in the perpetual antithesis of motion. Namikaze Minato was trapped. He was trapped in the sinister grip of Shimura Danzo's powerful _juinjutsu_; a cursed seal.

"What were you saying about being _immobile_," said Danzo, mockingly.

* * *

><p>With one final tug, Itachi finished tying the thick ropes he had wound around Koichi and Nobuo. It goes without saying that this was merely a precaution; Danzo's two bodyguards were sedated under enough layers of genjutsu to render Yuhi Kurenai speechless. It had been child's play to place the Hyuuga ROOT agent under an illusion, after Itachi's <em>Dai Bunshin Bakuha<em> (Great Clone Explosion) had knocked the Byakugan-user out.

Surrounding them was a field of traps so perilous that even a Sannin would find it immensely difficult to reach the two incapacitated shinobi without setting at least a few dozen off. Like his illusionary techniques, Itachi prided himself on being an expert at trap-setting.

Of course, the traps were meant for any surviving ROOT members who tried to rescue Koichi or Nobuo. The young ANBU commander had already wiped out a vast majority of the Shimura's entourage, but there were still a few remnants running around.

Itachi planned to hunt down and eliminate them ASAP, but he needed to keep Koichi and Nobuo alive for the purpose of interrogation; they were the two highest-ranking ROOT agents after all, besides Danzo. And Danzo was fated to die.

Suddenly, the 17-year old ANBU Commander detected a presence at the very edge of his awareness. Alarmed by this, the raven-haired teenager immediately drew out a kunai, his hands moving like blistering blurs. Then, he made a swift about-face before hurling the kunai at the intruder…who simply shifted his head a few inches to the left, causing the flying projectile to narrowly miss nicking the man's spiky blonde locks.

"M-Minato-sensei!" stammered Itachi after realizing the identity of the "intruder".

"Hmm; I'm impressed Itachi. I think that was the first time you ever sensed me so quickly," commended the Fourth's kage bunshin, "Too bad I'm just a clone."

"I'm assuming that the real Minato-sensei is still fighting Danzo."

"Yeah. But he has a plan," replied the clone, "That's what I need you to come with me for."

"Very well…"

* * *

><p><em>Samurai Bridge, four minutes since battle start…<em>

"This must be devastating for you; it's almost tragic," said Danzo with mock concern, "For the fastest man in the world, who can teleport halfway across the continent in a single flash; to be constrained to a single spot like this, completely parlayzed and helpless against whatever hand fate has dealt you. You're very much out of your own comfort zone, Minato."

"Shut the hell up, Danzo," growled Minato, trapped by the power of Danzo's cursed seal, or so Danzo thought, '_Almost there, almost there…ahh! There you go; I should be able to break out now at will. Danzo's pretty good, but he's no match for a genuine seal master. I just hope he hasn't noticed that I've already countered his juinjutsu_.'

Choetsu was rolling his eyes at the display, "Hasn't Danzo ever read the Evil Overlord List? Rule Number Six; I will not gloat over my enemies' predicament before killing them. This is basic shit man! Not that I want him to kill Minato-jiji, of course. But come on; he's supposed to be some elder councilmen type guy with high amounts of political savvy-ness! Ah well, its part of the plan, so it's all good."

"If only you hadn't so rudely revealed my crimes to the entire council that day," continued the ROOT leader, "This moment would have been so much better. After killing you, I could have had that fool Hiruzen assassinated, giving me the chance to become Hokage. But I guess your demise will have to do."

"You won't get away with this, Shimura!" cried Minato, still paralyzed as he watched his adversary take out a kunai before charging at him. The aged shinobi's knife got within an inch of Minato's head, when a black blur flickered in between them before parrying the kunai.

"I-Itachi," stammered Danzo in shock, after realizing the identity of Minato's savior. The ANBU Commander was no longer wearing his crow mask, and had his hood down; revealing his youthful face and long, raven-hair tied in a ponytail. The crimson light of his Sharingan eyes bored into Danzo's very soul, forcing the war hawk to avert his gaze.

Suddenly, the kunai Itachi was using to parry Danzo's started to glow red hot, causing Danzo's own kunai to melt. Itachi was using a chakra flow technique to directly infuse Katon chakra into his weapon. Danzo could practically feel the sweltering heat surrounding the weapon; it was hot enough to melt through the metal composing his own weapon, and surely it was hot enough to melt through human flesh.

And so, Danzo discarded his halfway-melted-through kunai before jumping back to create some space between himself and the Uchiha prodigy. Danzo decided to switch to _ninjutsu_, beginning a series of hand seals before being interrupted when four tornado-like torrents of drilling, spiraling water arose from both sides of the bridge.

"_Suiton: Suigadan _(Water Release: Water Fang Bullet)!" exclaimed Itachi as the quartet of spinning, liquid masses converged on the ROOT Leader. '_When did Itachi trigger this jutsu_?' questioned Danzo mentally, '_I didn't even see any hand seals. Did he form them faster than my eye could track?_'

"_Fuuton: Shinkujinheki _(Wind Release: Vacuum Encampment Wall)!" announced Danzo after flashing through a quick set of seals. A vortex of revolving wind chakra surrounded Danzo, becoming a protective, spinning cocoon that blocked the four incoming fang bullets.

"What are you doing here, Itachi!" loudly questioned Minato, after Itachi's Suiton jutsu had ceased, "I told you to leave this battle to me!"

"You were in need of assistance, so I jumped in. I couldn't allow this man to kill the Hokage. It would've been a colossal failure on my part," calmly answered his subordinate, before the raven-haired teenager charged at their mutual enemy. Itachi took out eight shuriken, four in each hand, before jumping up and becoming a literal storm of metal.

Itachi's body corkscrewed through the air like a living cyclone, and after each 180˚ turn another pair of shuriken would be hurled from his fingertips, joining the ever-growing flurry of projectiles that all converged upon the enemy ninja. There were several dozen, maybe even over a hundred shuriken about to rain down hell upon Danzo's position.

In response, the former Leaf elder formed a couple hand seals before swinging his head and releasing a Vacuum Wave from his mouth. The wave of Fuuton chakra blew the barrage of shuriken away, rendering Itachi's assault impotent. Seeing this, Itachi stopped his spinning, before grabbing his ANBU cloak and throwing it away. This revealed the high-collared shirt and white ANBU-issue battle armor he was wearing underneath.

When the young ANBU Commander landed on the ground, he unsheathed the katana on his back before infusing it with Katon. This had the effect of wreathing the metal blade in a layer of searing flames, upgrading the weapon's lethality. Taking the fire-blade, Itachi carved it into the ground, dragging it behind him as he charged.

After gathering enough momentum, Itachi made a wide sweeping motion with his blaze-fire saber, releasing a slash of flames that propagated in a horizontal arc towards the target. Danzo responded with his own _Wind Release: Slash_, but the Katon slash smashed through his response thanks to its elemental advantage. The flaming slash continued forward, forcing Danzo to leap over it with a last-minute front flip.

When he was back on his feet, the Shimura was forced to dodge again when Itachi shunshin-ed in front of him and attacked him with his fire-blade. Although he evaded it, the close proximity of the slash burned a painful but ultimately superficial wound through his shoulder. Having failed in his first endeavor, Itachi made a quick 180˚ before swinging his emblazed katana once again. This time, Danzo dodged with a precisely-timed back-flip, putting distance between him and the genius ninja.

"Hmm, I wonder why Itachi-chan isn't using his signature genjutsu that he's known so well for," commented Choetsu as he watched the exchange of ninjutsu and kenjutsu between the two shinobi, "Maybe it's because of Izanagi? But of course, I already know the answer to my own question; asking it and saying things like "I wonder" and "maybe" are just for the benefit of the audience."

Danzo flashed through ha pair of hand seals before exclaiming, "_Fuuton: Shinku Taigyoku_ (Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere)!" After seeing his opponent form a globular mass of compressed air and Fuuton chakra from his mouth, Itachi responded by shoving his blade into the ground, freeing his hands so he could form seals.

"_Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu_ (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique)!" exclaimed Itachi as he finished his seals, before releasing a blazing gout of flames from his mouth, at the same time that Danzo had expelled his own Vacuum Great Sphere. Itachi's Grand Fireball and Danzo's Wind Release technique both collided, resulting in a massive conflagration as the energies from the two attacks flared and erupted as they each tried to overcome the other.

Although Itachi's Katon had the elemental advantage once again, Danzo's technique was of a higher-rank, allowing the two jutsu to remain relatively even in their pseudo-tug-of-war for dominance. Neither technique succeeded however, and eventually, the colliding energies reached a critical point, exploding outwards in a wave of scorching, air-fueled, flaming destruction.

The explosion left behind a cloud of black smoke, which created a smoggy barrier dividing the two combatants, obscuring them from each other's sight. Thanks to his maneuvers earlier, Danzo was left on the side with the still paralyzed Fourth Hokage. The blonde-haired man was defenseless; Danzo just needed to act fast before Itachi bypassed the impromptu smokescreen.

Of course, he was too late; before he could plunge his kunai into the immobilized Yondaime's head, Itachi had already flickered in between them before delivering a powerful left hand smash to Danzo's cheek. He followed up with the combo of a right-hook and a spinning kick, before slamming his left fist into Danzo's stomach, causing the man to grunt before coughing blood.

Next, Itachi drove his right foot into the war hawk's gut with enough force to send him tumbling away, before drawing his katana and igniting it again with Katon chakra. Danzo immediately picked himself off the ground, clutching his stomach as he did so. The Sharingan-user was once again in between Danzo and his objective.

"What's taking Itachi-chan so long to kill Danzo? Is he stalling or something?" inquired Choetsu, "That's probably something I would ask if I wasn't virtually omniscient. But, like I said earlier; someone needs to ask questions on the audience's behalf."

"Itachi! What do you think you're doing! You can't risk such close encounters with him! If he uses Shisui's genjutsuon you, the results will be disastrous! Why do you think I had you sit this one out in the first place!" berated Minato, still affected by Danzo's cursed seal. Itachi simply ignored him, choosing to focus on his foe.

Danzo smirked when he heard the Fourth mention Koto; he had actually forgotten about Shisui's eye, in all the chaos. Since Shisui's other eye was with Minato, than that meant Itachi had no way of countering the ultimate genjutsu. He was easy pickings.

And so, Danzo quickly grabbed the bandages wrapped around his right eye, utilizing the same hand he had used to mark the Yondaime with a cursed seal, before unraveling them as fast as he could. Seeing this, Itachi made to rush at him, but it was already too late.

"_Kotoamatsu-_…" began Danzo, before being interrupted by the sudden appearance of a radiant yellow flash, spiriting away Itachi's body before Shisui's genjutsu could take effect. Danzo's eyes widened in shock and raw bewilderment when he realized that, not only was the ANBU Commander gone, but the Fourth as well.

Having witnessed the entire scene, Choetsu was practically salivating in excitement, "Wow, what a marvelous save right there! Poor Danzo; he must be confused as fuck right now, probably wondering how the hell Minato-jiji was able to escape his juinjutsu all of sudden. And I guess with that, this phase of Minato's plan has been completed. Let's see what happens next…"

* * *

><p>Ichiraku Teuchi was a man proud of his work. Even though he was just a lowly Ramen chef, it always filled him with joy and happiness to be able to serve delicious, delectable, DECULTURE! (A.N. Umm, kindly ignore that last adjective) ramen noodles to the people of Konoha.<p>

Of course, having lived in a hidden village filled with shinobi his entire life, he was no stranger to unusual, ninja related occurrences; especially when his humble food stall had such illustrious patrons like Namikaze Naruto, son of the Hokage, Jraiya of the Sannin, and even the village leader himself. Of course, the latter two only came so often because of Naruto and his humongous appetite.

Anyways, Teuchi was no stranger to unusual, ninja related occurrences, which is why he nor his daughter Ayame even so much as batted an eyelash when two Kage-level, S-Rank shinobi suddenly teleported into his establishment, accompanied by a yellow flash.

"What a pleasure it is having you here, Hokage-sama!" greeted Ayame cheerfully, before taking out a notepad and asking, "What would you like to order? The usual?"

Minato shook his head, "Nothing for me, unfortunately. I have to be back in about a minute after all. But Itachi-kun here, on the other-hand, will be having a small bowl of pork Miso Ramen, with extra cabbages and a side of _onigiri _with seaweed in it."

Itachi's brow visibly rose at this, "What? B-But Mianto-sensei, I don't eat ra-…"

"Well now you do. Hokage's orders! I'll pay for it, so don't be concerned over that," retorted the Yondaime with a shit-eating grin, "You must be hungry anyways, especially after such a long mission."

"You mean the mission that still hasn't been finished."

"I'll handle the rest. Don't worry, Itachi-kun; I'll come get you if I need you. But I'm just going to relax here for the next minute or so, anyways."

Itachi sighed before acquiescing, "Fine, Minato-sensei; I guess I can try some ramen."

"Good, good! There you go, Teuchi-san! You heard the man!" exclaimed Minato in exuberance. Kushina has really rubbed off of him during their twelve years of marriage.

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" replied the ramen chef before going off to prepare Itachi's meal.

"By the way, sensei," continued Itachi, addressing the blonde man sitting next to him, "If you're here…then who's with Danzo?"

Minato smirked.

* * *

><p><em>Samurai Bridge, five minutes since battle start…<em>

Danzo was furious. Furious and utterly confused, but most of all furious. The battle was finally going his way after the first half just being Minato destroying him over and over again, and he even had the Yondaime physically subdued.

But, just when he was moments away from ensnaring Uchiha Itachi, the ANBU Commander of Konoha, with Kotoamatsukami; all of sudden Minato miraculously breaks free from his cursed seal and rescues Itachi.

Danzo still had no idea how he did that. The Hokage shouldn't have been able to move or mold chakra at all under the influence of his juinjutsu, let alone be able to execute any fuinjutsu counters of his.

So, when the blonde-haired Namikaze arrived back at the bridge a few seconds later with his signature yellow flash, the first thing Danzo asked was, "How?"

"How?" echoed Minato before answering, "Because…you are beneath me, Danzo. I can counter _anything_ you throw at me. Even you're Izanagi, as amazing a technique as it is."

"And just how do you plan to do that?" questioned the Shimura, with a curious tone. He didn't really expect Minato to actually explain, but it was worth a shot. Of course, the blue-eyed seal master immediately proved him wrong.

"It's simple, really," replied Minato with a smugness that seemed uncanny, "I was observing you closely earlier, every time you respawned with Izanagi after each death I dealt you. That's when I noticed a glaring weakness of Izanagi."

"A weakness?"

"Yes, a weakness. Does this come as a shock to you? Did you think your Izanagi was perfect? Well it's not, and I'll tell you why. Have you ever wondered how Izanagi's respawn works?"

"Yeah, of course," answered the ROOT leader, "Izanagi works by turning one's imagination into reali-…"

"No, not how Izanagi works. How Izanagi's _respawn_ works. Did you know that Izanagi doesn't actually revive you the way you were at the moment of death?"

Danzo's eyes narrowed in confusion; he didn't actually know that. "No."

"Well, it's true. It's also something I noticed while I was fighting you," said the blonde speedster, "For example; earlier, I had one of my Hiraishin tags marked on your body. But, after I killed you, it disappeared. At first I assumed that you were consciously controlling your respawn state, but that changed when I noticed something else."

"The bandages around your eye became undone before I killed you, but after I killed you, Izanagi returned them to their original state. That's not something you would've wanted if you were in control of the respawn state."

Danzo was starting to get an idea of where his enemy was going with his explanation, '_This is excellent. While Minato foolishly reveals his plan to me, I can buy time to prepare a counter to his strategy_.' Then, the old war hawk discreetly shifted his hands behind his back, before secretly beginning a long sequence of hand seals.

Minato didn't seem to notice a thing, as he continued with his explanation, "So, after that I came to the conclusion that Izanagi recorded the state you existed at a certain, pre-determined time before each death. And then, when it revives you, it restores you to this state. I was unsure though, so I did a test to confirm my discovery, and it turned out to be true."

"And then. What?" inquired Danzo, as he continued to flash through seals behind his back. At the same time, he was genuinely curious to learn about the hidden mechanics of his jutsu.

"Well, now that I knew Izanagi's respawn was time-based, I set out to determine that specific time. I wanted to know how long it took for any change to your body to become "set". So I did a few tests while we were fighting," explained Minato, "And I discovered that it takes at least one minutes for anything to "set in". After this, I devised my plan. I'm basically going to mark your body with a non-paper based exploding tag, similar to my mark-able Hiraishin tags, wait one minute for it to set in, and then kill you by triggering it."

Danzo completed his set of seals just as Minato finished his explanation, "Since the exploding tag has already set in, that means you'll respawn with the exploding tag still on you. But the crux of my plan, is for me to design the exploding tag to detonate _each time you revive_, resulting in an endless chain of you respawning followed by the tag instantly killing you with an explosion. Until Izanagi's time limit is reached, that is."

"Ahh, so that's your plan, is it," said Danzo after Minato concluded his speech, "A very ingenious and well-thought out strategy, but how do you plan to pull it off now that I know the details."

Minato smirked before pulling out one of his signature Hiraishin, "It doesn't matter if you know the details…_there's nothing you can do about it_!"

'_58, 59, and 60_!' mentally counted Minato, before throwing his kunai at the traitorous elder. Danzo was ready for this, unfortunately, and opted to sidestep the incoming projectile. Minato instantly flashed to the kunai in order to catch it so he could swing a shimmering Raiton blade at his adversary's back. The Shimura just narrowly avoided being cut by weapon of pure lightning chakra, but the slash distracted him from Minato's real move.

That's when Danzo felt the palm of Minato's left hand make contact with his chest, marking him with an exploding tag…and activating the final trap of _Yami no Shinobi_.

Danzo smirked as the cursed seal he placed on his own body became active, spreading all over his body before binding to Minato's. The ROOT leader almost felt like chuckling as he watched a look of pure horror manifest on the Yondaime's face, when the blonde finally noticed the trap he had been ensnared in. Now, although they were both trapped; Danzo had Izanagi, and Minato didn't.

"W-What the hell…what the hell's going on, Danzo! Answer me!" stammered Minato in pure, unadulterated shock, as he futilely tried to move his body.

"A cursed seal trap, designed to activate if you tried to mark my body. _And you did_!" answered Danzo, "Now, we're both trapped in the same juinjutsu you were stuck in just a minute ago. But this time, it's going to _explode_, and in less than ten seconds. I have a feeling that you won't be able to break free from it and escape with Hiraishin in time."

Minato started to panic, as the black markings covering both Danzo's and his own skin started to glow with a sinister aura, "G-Go to hell, Dan-…" BOOM! And then, the cursed seal detonated, obliterating both their bodies.

* * *

><p>"Fast service as usual, Teuchi-san!" praised Namikaze Minato as he watched the old ramen chef serve Itachi his bowl of noodle soup. To be honest, the steaming hot bowl looked very tempting to him; it took all of his considerable willpower to avoid ordering his own. But, he had a job to finish, so it would just have to wait till next time.<p>

"Thank you, Hokage-sama! But are you sure you don't want a bowl of your own?" asked Teuchi politely.

Minato shook his head, "No, I don't have time. I have to-…wait! There's my cue. I have to go now, but I'll be back." And with that, the Yondaime Hokage was gone in a flash.

The owner of Ichiraku's Ramen blankly stared at the now-empty seat in front of him for a short moment, before turning to the Namikaze's Uchiha apprentice, "You do realize that you're gonna have to pay for that order now."

Itachi sighed, before nodding. Then he looked Teuchi dead in the eye, making the old man feel very nervous before speaking, "Would you report me…if I said that I very much want to assassinate the Hokage right now."

* * *

><p><em>Samurai Bridge, six minutes since battle start<em>…

Danzo's newly revived body materialized in the middle of a crater, left behind from the explosion that caused his last death. His victory was complete; Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage, was now dead by his hands. And it was all thanks to a foolish mistake on the Yondaime's part.

"That fool, Minato; I'm actually quite disappointed in him," mused Danzo, talking to no one in particular, "Hiruzen and that lecherous student of his always used to brag about the Yondaime being the "perfect shinobi". They said that he "was never one to make a single wasted action". How ironic that he died because of the very thing he was praised for never having engaged in. If he hadn't blabbered idiotically about his own masterstroke in front of me, I would have never been able to counter it."

"How amusing," said a voice from behind, startling Danzo half-to death, "You're talking to thin air, as if I'm actually dead. Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, Danzo."

Turning around, the old war hawk found to his horror, Namikaze Minato, the Hokage he believed to have died, standing right in front of him. There wasn't even so much as a single scratch on his skin or clothing.

"M-Minato; bu-but how?" questioned Danzo with an audible stutter. On top of the _Torii_ marking the end of Samurai Bridge, Choetsu couldn't help but burst into maniacal laughter after seeing Danzo's comically bewildered expression. Good thing they couldn't hear him.

"Shadow clone, Danzo, shadow clone. Teleporting isn't the only method I use to avoid death. Not actually being in the area in the first place is also a pretty good tactic," explained Minato with a smug expression, "Now that I'm back, I can continue with the execution of my plan."

"Do you really think that you can still attempt to use the same plan against me, even after all that? I'll just counter it again," said Danzo, "I'm afraid that you've lost any chance of victory the moment you started explaining your strategy to the enemy. Quite the amateur mistake, to be honest; I really expected better from you."

In response, Minato laughed in his face.

"Oh please, Danzo; give me some credit. I'm not some rookie _genin_, fresh out of the academy," said Minato, "I'm the Fourth Hokage, for _Kami's _sake! And I didn't receive that position based on my speed alone."

"I mean, come on! Did you really, honestly, _seriously_ believe that I would be monumentally _stupid_ enough to explain my strategy to you of all people, therefore creating a chance for you to counter it? You must be insane, thinking that I would just stand here and kill time by talking my head off about a plan that I. No longer. Intend. To implement…"

Danzo narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "No longer intend to implement? What do y-…?"

BOOM! And then suddenly, Shimura Danzo's entire head became a revolting splatter of red lining the ground, as a result of an exploding tag detonating within his right eye-ball, blasting the old war hawk's face apart in a shower of flesh and blood.

"…after all," continued Minato with a smirk and a half-seal, "how can I possibly implement a plan that has already succeeded? _I tagged you one minute ago_."

* * *

><p>On another planet, in a galaxy located in an entirely different universe, one Adrian Veidt, better known as Ozymandias, had just experienced a completely novel sensation.<p>

"Why do I have this feeling that someone from another universe has just stolen one of my lines and modified it to fit their situation," muttered Ozymandias before shrugging and returning to whatever it was that he was currently doing at the moment.

* * *

><p><em>Samurai Bridge, six and a half minutes since battle start…<em>

Uzumaki Choetsu could not stop cackling and snickering at the hilarious scene displayed in front of him. His grandfather, Namikaze Minato, was currently sitting with legs crossed Indian-style at the middle of the bridge.

In his hands was a bowl of ramen, which he had randomly unsealed from a storage scroll that came from one of the many pockets of his green _jonin_ vest. Yes, you read that right, folks; the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha carries sealed ramen with him wherever he goes.

That wasn't the funny part, though. What was funny was that every few seconds, Danzo would respawn at random locations in proximity to the Hokage's position; and the exact moment his body would reappear, the exploding tag sealed in his right-eye ball would explode, killing him instantly.

And to add insult to injury, Minato had just begun quietly slurping his ramen noodles, acting uttely nonchalant about the fact that a _never-ending chain of Danzo heads were exploding every few seconds all around him_. This was just too funny, in Choetsu's opinion.

Of course, for a man of his attention span, the endlessly exploding Danzos got old after about a minute. And now that his laughter has ceased, Choetsu became coherent enough to give some well-needed commentary, "Man, this is rich! Ji-chan seriously owned Danzo's shriveled ass with that last gambit. My respect for gramps has just gone way up."

"But of course, now it's time for me to give a recap and explanation of what the hell just happened, since Minato-jiji is way too savvy to needlessly explain his own plan. So for the sake of our readers, I shall play the role of Mr. Exposition."

What readers were the Rikudou Hiraishin referring to. The world shall never know.

"Let's start from the beginning," started Choetsu, "When Minato-jiji realized and confirmed that Izanagi's respawn state is based on a pre-determined length of time, he devised his plan of marking Danzo with an exploding tag and letting it "set-in". But he needed a way to discreetly tag Danzo, because he feared that Danzo would be smart enough to purposely self-terminate if marked, in order to remove the tag before it became "set"."

"The idea he thought of was innovative as fuck. First; he created a shadow clone and sent it to bring Itachi-chan to the bridge, where Mr. Weasel Fan would wait in hiding until the right moment. Second; he placed a "sticky-note" exploding tag on his throat that would transfer surfaces on contact."

"The reason he did this was because Ji-chan had studied Danzo's particular brand of juinjutsu, and he knew that the old fart needed to grab his throat to mark him," continued the blonde Rinnegan-user, "So, after he teleported back to the bridge, he baited Danzo into marking him with his cursed seal. And when Danzo grabbed his throat, _the sticky-note Minato-jiji placed there before transferred to Danzo's palm_."

"Third; with Minato-jiji immobilized, it was up to Itachi to "miraculously" show up at the last minute to save him. Of course, Mr. Genius Blonde Seal Master had already broken Danzo's curse by then, and Itachi was only there to bait Danzo into using Kotoamatsukami. Why this? _Because the sticky-note on his palm was designed to transfer a second time, when Danzo's hand touched his right-eye to remove the bandages_. And that's how the exploding tag got in Danzo's eye."

"But that's not all!" continued the time traveler once again, "It goes without saying, that Minato needed a way to stall for time so that the tag could set-in. So what does he do? Simple; he starts chatting about the very plan he had just finished executing successfully. For an entire minute. And it worked! And with that said, my boring yet necessary segment of exposition is over. Let's get back to the real story, folks!"

Meanwhile, as Choetsu explained the situation to a seemingly invisible audience, Minato was still currently enjoying the steaming hot bowl of his wife's Ramen in his lap. The blonde father inwardly swooned at every heavenly sip of the golden broth, and at every orgasmic slurp of the perfectly textured noodles. He was in paradise.

No matter how much he loved Ichiraku's Ramen; there was nothing in the world that could possibly be better than Kushina's cooking. On that point, he and his son Naruto strongly disagreed. Kushina always took his side, of course; it was her cooking reputation at stake after all.

A minute had passed before the Namikaze adult had finished his meal. After slurping up the last bit of flavor-filled broth at the bottom of the bowl, Minato said, "You know, I could've teleported back to Ichiraku's instead of staying here, but I need to make sure Danzo doesn't-…'

He was interrupted mid-sentence by a stray wind blade cutting his ceramic bowl in half.

"…escape," finished the Yondaime, after the fact. Then he looked up before finding a no-longer exploding Danzo standing in front of him, a murderous expression on his face.

"I don't know how you did that, but it doesn't anymore. I escaped your trap," said Danzo with a menacing tone, "I had to sacrifice Shisui's eye for Izanagi in order to remove the tag you placed in it, but my gambit worked and now I'm free."

"So," said Minato, not at all surprised by the current developments, "You can't use Shisui's eye anymore?"

"Yes, but what does that mean to y-…"

"Good! It's all going just as planned then!" exclaimed Minato before vanishing in a yellow flash, leaving a very perplexed and concerned war hawk behind.

There was a reason why Minato needed his tag placed in Danzo's _right_ eye, after all.

* * *

><p>"I'm grateful for the meal, Teuchi-san. It was delicious," thanked Itachi, after finishing the Miso ramen bowl that he had been served.<p>

"I'm glad, and I hope you come again some time," replied the old ramen chef, before he held out his hand, expectantly, "And now for my favorite part. That'll be 100 Ryo, Itachi-san."

Itachi sighed, realizing that it was inevitable. He was a law-abiding citizen after all. At least by day. At night, he was an elite, badass shinobi who took shit from no one. Or so they said.

The Uchiha prodigy rummaged through his pocket, looking for any spare cash he had, before taking out his wallet. Itachi was just about to reach in and grab a 100 Ryo bill when a yellow flash suddenly illuminated the room, heralding the arrival of his blonde mentor.

"No time to explain," said Minato before grabbing Itachi and teleporting away. This left old man Teuchi alone, staring blankly once again at the empty ramen bowl where his raven-haired customer had been sitting.

"Now who's gonna pay for this!"

* * *

><p><em>Samurai Bridge, eight minutes after battle start…<em>

When Minato returned, he brought Uchiha Itachi with him.

"What's going on, Minato-sensei?" inquired the 17-year old commander, "Why did you bring me with you." After seeing that Itachi had accompanied Minato this time, Danzo was gritting his teeth. He knew the answer to the teenager's question.

"Danzo fell for my trap, and sacrificed Shisui's eye. Now he can't use Kotomatsukami," explained the Hokage, "Without that, there's no reason for me to hold you back anymore. It's your job to kill him now."

"I don't understand. I thought you wanted to kill him, as revenge for trying to kidnap Kurama-san."

"I do, Itachi; I really do. But he only _tried_ to take my daughter. He _succeeded_ in taking your best friend from you," said Minato, "Danzo ripped Shisui's eye out and was responsible for the events that lead to his death. The events that eventually _forced you to kill your own best friend_. I think you deserve to finish Danzo much more than I do."

Itachi smiled; he was excited. "Thank you Minato-sensei…I will finish what you started."

Danzo laughed, "And how do you expect to do that, boy! I still have my Izanagi! Every time you try to kill me, I'll just come back from the dead."

Itachi laughed back at him, "That's what you don't understand, Danzo. I could just keep killing you, over and over again until you run out of eyes. But I have no need of such an inelegant solution. No; I have something even _better_. A perfect counter to your Izanagi…"

"Is he going to use what I think he's going to use," said Choetsu, from atop the Torii gate.

"You think Izanagi has no weaknesses? Well, I'll show you a weakness. That weakness…is me! With the power of my Mangekyo…" declared Itachi as he activated his own Mangekyo Sharingan, causing the three _tomoe_ in each of his eyes to converge and form three-point windmill shuriken.

"…and this _Izanami_; I will destroy you."

TBC

A.N. And there we go! Epic, was it not? I hope Minato's elaborate plan made sense to all of you; I worked hard on devising it. Anyways, just in case people were wondering; the part with Ozymandias from Watchmen was to lampshade the fact that Minato's "I tagged you one minute ago" line was inspired by Ozymandias's "I did it thirty-five minutes ago" line. A line I consider very awesome.

Anyways, read and review people! Next update will included the conclusion of the Danzo subplot, so stay tune!


	24. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto, I am coming to you, _I don't own Naruto right now_, but one day, one day...I will (gets shot)...

Author's Note: Extra long chapter, and the final conclusion to the Danzo subplot. Enjoy...

Chapter 23: Izanagi and Izanami

"_You think Izanagi has no weaknesses? Well, I'll show you a weakness. That weakness…is me! With the power of my Mangekyo…" declared Itachi as he activated his own Mangekyo Sharingan, causing the three tomoe in each of his eyes to converge and form three-point windmill shuriken._

_"…and this Izanami; I will destroy you."_

_Samurai Bridge, nine minutes since battle start_…

Namikaze Minato watched as his apprentice and the traitorous ROOT leader glared intensely at each other from across the bridge. The blonde-haired Hokage was actually starting to get rather impatient with the whole ordeal, to be honest. If this continued on any longer, he would miss his next office appointment in about a minute.

Uchiha Itachi quickly proceeded with his first move, as if sensing his mentor's annoyance; which involved him drawing out the katana on his back, before sheathing it within a wreath of _Katon_ chakra. Then, the genius prodigy made a 360˚ spin to gain momentum before swinging his flaming sword, releasing a slash of super-heated flames which propagated in an arc towards Danzo.

Having seen this trick before, the Shimura was quick to react. After flipping over the fiery slash, Danzo performed a few hand seals before landing on his feet and announcing, "_Wind Release: Stream_!"

The pressurized stream of _Fuuton_ chakra expelled from the aged shinobi's mouth threatened to blast a hole through Itachi's chest, but the ANBU Commander quickly averted it by positioning his Katon-enhanced blade in between Danzo's wind stream and himself. The Wind chakra inherent to Danzo's attack fed the flames surrounding Itachi's katana, allowing Itachi's fire-blade to overwhelm Danzo's Fuuton.

The result was a speeding conflagration of fire, sparks, and burning debris, heading straight for Danzo's location. The old man had enough sense to dodge, via a quick jump to the side, before throwing a kunai while airborne. His target was the Yondaime.

Minato evaded with a simple sidestep, without throwing any real concern towards the projectile that had just been thrown at him. It was no longer his fight, so he chose not to retaliate against the minor attack. Itachi, on the other hand, moved to immediately intercept the treacherous councilmen in mid-air.

"Your opponent is me, Danzo! Don't forget that!" exclaimed Itachi, before the Mangekyo-user tried to bisect his adversary with a swing from his blazing katana. Emphasis on tried, because as soon as he began his attempt, Danzo had already used to _Shunshin no Jutsu_ to evade before reappearing on a stone platform nearby. But, although Danzo's Body Flicker Technique was quick, Itachi's follow-up shunshin was even faster; only matched and surpassed by the likes of his late best friend, Uchiha Shisui, his mentor, the Yellow Flash, and the Fourth Raikage.

It was child's play for the ANBU Commander to intercept Danzo as soon as he reappeared, before piercing the man's gut with his fire-blade. The Katon chakra infused within the katana ignited the Shimura's body, causing the old war hawk to burst in flames. Danzo shrieked in incomprehensible suffering as his clothes, skin, and organs were licked away by the searing inferno, until his body finally faded into nothingness, thanks to Izanagi.

Itachi searched around for Danzo's next respawn, but he ended up hearing the man before seeing him; when Danzo declared, "_Fuuton: Daitoppa_ (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)!" The massive gust of wind released from Danzo's outstretched palms eroded the stone platform which Itachi was standing on, causing it to collapse beneath him.

Although the platform's midsection was blown away, a circular, stone slab at the top which was about three feet in height remained. Itachi held onto it with his feet using the tree-climbing exercise, before drawing a single kunai and wounding a thin, but strong piece of ninja wire around its hilt. Then, Itachi threw the kunai to the ground, before pulsing chakra down the wire that was still connected to it.

When the thrown projectile drove into the ground upon impact, the chakra infused within it anchored it to the surface, allowing Itachi to pull on the wire as a means to maneuver himself and the stone slab beneath his feet in mid-air. When the circular slab was lined up with Danzo's position, Itachi released a burst of chakra from his feet, sending the slab flying at him.

Danzo's response was to flash through a few seals before using _Wind Release: Slash_ to bisect the slab on its vertical axis. Next, the Fuuton-user made multiple complete turns to gain momentum before releasing another, more powerful slash of wind from his arm. The young ANBU Commander flipped over the wind slash before reeling his kunai back within the grip of his fingers.

Then, the raven-haired teenager chucked the kunai from his hand, using it as a distraction to avert Danzo's attention long enough for him to complete a sequence of hand seals. Danzo ducked to avoid the throwing knife, but is unable to stop Itachi from completing his set of seals.

"_Katon: Suzaku no Suisei_ (Fire Release: Comet of Suzaku)!" exclaimed Itachi, before raising his right hand against the sky and forming a meteor-shaped ball of hyper-compressed Katon chakra within his palm. The Uchiha heir takes the burning mini-comet and jumps up, before tossing it at the ground in front of the charging Shimura.

Danzo panicked after spotting the incoming sphere of hell-fire. After desperately flashing through a set of hand seals, Danzo fired a stream of Fuuton chakra from his mouth, propelling him backwards. When the mini-comet finally exploded against the bridge, Danzo had propelled himself far enough away to avoid the blunt of the damage, but was still close enough for the shockwave to overtake him.

The Sandaime's contempory tumbled across the bridge, which now had an entire section utterly demolished by Itachi's powerful Katon. He eventually skidded to a halt, before picking himself off the ground. Before Danzo could launch a counterattack, however, his teenaged adversary had already shunshin-ed behind him.

The old war hawk tried to place some distance between himself and the ANBU Commander, but by then, Itachi had already thrusted forward before impaling Danzo through the stomach with his Katon-enhanced katana. The next thing he knew, Danzo's entire body was engulfed by an envelope of agonizing flames; melting, burning, and searing every last cell of his being. His only mercy was the sweet embrace of death, followed by Izanagi's miraculous revival.

Itachi searched around for Danzo's next respawn, but he ended up hearing the man before seeing him; when Danzo declared, "_Fuuton: Daitoppa_ (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)!" The massive gust of wind released from Danzo's outstretched palms eroded the stone platform which Itachi was standing on, causing it to collapse beneath him.

Although the platform's midsection was blown away, a circular, stone slab at the top which was about three feet in height remained. Itachi held onto it with his feet using the tree-climbing exercise, before drawing a single kunai and wounding a thin, but strong piece of ninja wire around its hilt. Then, Itachi threw the kunai to the ground, before pulsing chakra down the wire that was still connected to it.

When the thrown projectile drove into the ground upon impact, the chakra infused within it anchored it to the surface, allowing Itachi to pull on the rope as a means to maneuver himself and the stone slab beneath his feet in mid-air. When the circular slab was lined up with Danzo's position, Itachi released a burst of chakra from his feet, sending the slab flying at him.

Danzo's response was to flash through a few seals before using _Wind Release: Slash_ to bisect the slab on its vertical axis. Next, the Fuuton-user made multiple complete turns to gain momentum before releasing another, more powerful slash of wind from his arm. The young ANBU Commander flipped over the wind slash before reeling his kunai back within the grip of his fingers.

Then, the raven-haired teenager chucked the kunai from his hand, using it as a distraction to avert Danzo's attention long enough for him to complete a sequence of hand seals. Danzo ducked to avoid the throwing knife, but is unable was stop Itachi from completing his set of seals.

"_Katon: Suzaku no Suisei_ (Fire Release: Comet of Suzaku)!" exclaimed Itachi, before raising his right hand against the sky and forming a meteor-shaped ball of hyper-compressed Katon chakra within his palm. The Uchiha heir takes the burning mini-comet and jumps up, before tossing it at the ground in front of the charging Shimura.

Danzo panicked after spotting the incoming sphere of hell-fire. After desperately flashing through a set of hand seals, Danzo fired a stream of Fuuton chakra from his mouth, propelling him backwards. When the mini-comet finally exploded against the bridge, Danzo had propelled himself far enough away to avoid the blunt of the damage, but was still close enough for the shockwave to overtake him.

The Sandaime's contempory tumbled across the bridge, which now had an entire section utterly demolished by Itachi's powerful Katon. He eventually skidded to a halt, before picking himself off the ground. Before Danzo could launch a counterattack, however, his teenaged adversary had already shunshin-ed behind him.

The old war hawk tried to place some distance between himself and the ANBU Commander, but by then, Itachi had already thrusted forward before impaling Danzo through the stomach with his Katon-enhanced katana. The next thing he knew, Danzo's entire body was engulfed by an envelope of agonizing flames; melting, burning, and searing every last cell of his being. His only mercy was the sweet embrace of death, followed by Izanagi's miraculous revival.

In the last few moments before his existence was rebooted, Danzo couldn't help but thinking, '_What's going on? Why does this seem so…familiar?_'

Itachi searched around for Danzo's next respawn, but he ended up hearing the man before seeing him; when Danzo declared, "_Fuuton: Daitoppa_ (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)!" The massive gust of wind released from Danzo's outstretched palms eroded the stone platform which Itachi was standing on, causing it to collapse beneath him.

As he watched the results of his Great Breakthrough, Danzo thought, '_As I thought; that was no coincidence. These specific events have already happened twice before, and they are being repeated for a third time; like a loop. But how? Is this Itachi's doing; one of his illusionary techniques? Or is it something else_…'

Although the platform's midsection was blown away, a circular, stone slab at the top which was about three feet in height remained. Itachi held onto it with his feet using the tree-climbing exercise, before drawing a single kunai and wounding a thin, but strong piece of ninja wire around its hilt. Then, Itachi threw the kunai to the ground, before pulsing chakra down the wire that was still connected to it.

When the thrown projectile drove into the ground upon impact, the chakra infused within it anchored it to the surface, allowing Itachi to pull on the rope as a means to maneuver himself and the stone slab beneath his feet in mid-air. When the circular slab was lined up with Danzo's position, Itachi released a burst of chakra from his feet, sending the slab flying at him.

Danzo's response was to flash through a few seals before using _Wind Release: Slash_ to bisect the slab on its vertical axis. Next, the Fuuton-user made multiple complete turns to gain momentum before releasing another, more powerful slash of wind from his arm. The young ANBU Commander flipped over the wind slash before reeling his kunai back within the grip of his fingers.

Then, the raven-haired teenager chucked the kunai from his hand, using it as a distraction to avert Danzo's attention long enough for him to complete a sequence of hand seals. Danzo ducked to avoid the throwing knife, but is unable was stop Itachi from completing his set of seals.

"_Katon: Suzaku no Suisei_ (Fire Release: Comet of Suzaku)!" exclaimed Itachi, before raising his right hand against the sky and forming a meteor-shaped ball of hyper-compressed Katon chakra within his palm. The Uchiha heir takes the burning mini-comet and jumps up, before tossing it at the ground in front of the charging Shimura.

Danzo panicked after spotting the incoming sphere of hell-fire. After desperately flashing through a set of hand seals, Danzo fired a stream of Fuuton chakra from his mouth, propelling him backwards. When the mini-comet finally exploded against the bridge, Danzo had propelled himself far enough away to avoid the blunt of the damage, but was still close enough for the shockwave to overtake him.

The Sandaime's contempory tumbled across the bridge, which now had an entire section utterly demolished by Itachi's powerful Katon. He eventually skidded to a halt, before picking himself off the ground. Before Danzo could launch a counterattack, however, his teenaged adversary had already shunshin-ed behind him.

The old war hawk tried to place some distance between himself and the ANBU Commander, but by then, Itachi had already thrusted forward before impaling Danzo through the stomach with his Katon-enhanced katana. The next thing he knew, Danzo's entire body was engulfed by an envelope of agonizing flames; melting, burning, and searing every last cell of his being. His only mercy was the sweet embrace of death, followed by Izanagi's miraculous revival.

The former Leaf elder respawned in the same exact spot as the last three iterations, This time, however, he choose to refrain from opening with Daitoppa, instead opting to throw a vacuum-enhanced shuriken at his foe. Itachi simply deflected the incoming projectile with his katana, before returning to the offensive.

Danzo met his challenge head on, but no matter how hard he tried to diverge from the last few iterations, he was unable to avert his inevitable fate; that of being stabbed and burned to death by Itachi's fire-blade.

When Izanagi revived him once again, Danzo didn't even bother with trying to continue the fight. He immediately made a break for it, '_If this is what I think it is, then continuing to fight Itachi is an utterly pointless endeavor. I have to escape this illusion; I can't allow Itachi to decide my destiny_.'

Before he could make it past the massive _Torii_ gate marking the end of the bridge, Itachi suddenly reappeared in front of him, blocking his path. It was like the Uchiha prodigy had suddenly learned how to teleport.

"Now where do you think you're going, Danzo?" inquired Itachi with a mocking tone, "You can't escape your fate that easily. No…you can't escape _at_ _all_."

Before Danzo could even react or respond, Itachi had already plunged his flaming katana into the Shimura's gut; eliciting shrieks of anguish from him as the old man's body burst into flames for the umpteenth time.

When he respawned again, Itachi was already waiting for him. "By now you should know the web you've been caught in."

Danzo nodded, "_Izanami_, right? I heard you mention it earlier, but I thought you were just bluffing."

"And you thought wrong," interjected the ANBU Commander, "Tell me; what do you know about Izanami?"

'_Is he trying to turn this conflict into another game of exposition and banter? What a fool. Then again; Minato did the same yet, even I must admit his strategy was flawless. I need to tread lightly and cautiously in this situation_,' thought Danzo, before replying out loud, "Not much, I'm afraid. I thought it was a myth. A jutsu that is the perfect counter to Izanagi; it seemed too farfetched to be true."

"Well, it is most definitely real. And I possess its power," said the raven-haired teenager, "As you can see…you are now trapped within its inescapable depths."

Danzo narrowed his eyes in contempt, "How droll; a jutsu with no escape. I find that highly unlikely. Weren't you the one to say that every jutsu has a weakness in the first place?"

"I did say that," continued Itachi, "And I wasn't lying. Izanami has a weakness. There is a way to escape. But I'm afraid that isn't an option for you. A person like you can never escape Izanami." Then, he drew his katana once more before swiftly gutting Danzo faster than he could evade. And as per usual; the ROOT leader's body immediately burst into flames.

The "battle" if it could be called such, continued in that same matter for iteration after iteration after iteration; each repeat in the cycle beginning and ending with Danzo's impalement and subsequent fiery death. No matter what Danzo tried, no matter how much he diverged from the original iteration, and no matter what strategy or tactic he cobbled together in a desperate attempt to escape the destiny that Itachi had decided for him, Danzo failed again and again.

He was trapped in an endless loop; a period of finite time inverted upon itself into a never-ending eternity.

This was the power of Izanami.

* * *

><p>Konan loved flying. It was, in her humble opinion, one of the most exhilarating things any individual could possibly experience in life. The only thing that could compare was, well; certain "activities" that she and her companion and lover Nagato participated in whenever they were alone together in a private room. Now that gave flying a run for its money.<p>

When she had first discovered that she could fly using her paper abilities, Konan was ecstatic. There were days where she spent all the time she possibly could flying, at least before the chakra exhaustion, hunger, and urge to urinate forced her to return to solid ground.

Even after years of being an airborne origami master, Konan never lost that sensation of wonder whenever she took to the skies. Every moment in flight was just as magical as the last.

That's why she'd be damn before she let this blonde-haired, Rinnegan-using bastard ruin the feeling for her…

"Hey Konan-chan, hey Konan-chan, hey Konan-chan, hey-…"

"WHAT!" exclaimed the normally stoic kunoichi. Flying next to her was Uzumaki Choetsu, the _Rikudou Hiraishin_. Just a shadow clone of course; the real one was still a spectator in a certain battle taking place somewhere in the Land of Iron. The clone was sitting lotus position on top of a spiraling pocket of air, taking the form of a massive, translucent sphere. He was using the flying air sphere to keep up with Konan.

"I was just wondering, but…how mad would you be if someone were to replace all of your origami with toilet paper," asked the True Rikudou with an innocent tone, "I mean that in a hypothetical way of course, hehehe."

"Do you want to experience the wrath of my Paper Ocean again?"

"Well that depends," answered Choetsu with a highly contemplative look on his face, "Would I be feeling particularly masochistic on the occasion you do subjugate me to that piece of fiery, exploding overkill? Or would I be orientated to a more…typical mood, for lack of a better term; a mood in which pain is as abhorrent to me as the next random shmuck"

"…I'm just going to ignore you right now," deadpanned the blue-haired angel. Then she turned to their third companion; one _Akasuna no Sasori_. He was flying with the use of the powerful chakra thrusters built into the _Kyokutanna_, his new armored power suit created by Choetsu's _Tekkuton_, or Techno Release _Kekkei Kanryo_.

"So, how was your day so far, Sasori-san?" asked Konan dryly.

Sasori's helmeted head turned to look at her before replying, "That depends on whether you want me to factor Choetsu-sama into the equation or not. If not, then my day has been rather splendid so far…"

"What do you mean "factor" me into the equation," interjected Choetsu, with an annoyed tone of voice "I _am_ the equation! And the factoring. And everything else too!"

"…including Choetsu-sama in the equation, on the other hand," continued Sasori, as both he and Konan ignored Choetsu's rambling, "Well; I think it's rather obvious what my reply will be."

"I changed my mind; I liked you better when you were scared shitless of me," added Choetsu from the side. Then he snapped his fingers, causing a small meteor to suddenly materialize next to Sasori before colliding into him with immense force. The resulting impact sent the puppet master plunging from the sky.

Konan looked back at the falling star that was Sasori of the Red Sands, and watched as he crash-landed in the distant horizon, resulting in a mushroom-shaped explosion upon impact. "D-Did you just slam a meteor into Sasori-san?" asked Konan incredulously.

"Yup."

"But…but wh-…"

"He was getting on my nerves."

Konan rolled his eyes at the time traveller's blasé answer, "You do know that we're over a thousand feet up. Don't you think an impact like that could-…"

"Don't worry about it, Konan-chan; that armor is as tough as it's shiny."

"B-But still; I don't think you should go off randomly slamming meteors into people's faces. I feel like you would do something like that to me, without even a moment's notice."

Choetsu shook his head, "Nah; I'm a gentlemen, and I don't really enjoy hitting women like that unless it's absolute necessary. And even if I did, I wouldn't use a meteor. For you, I would resort to something with a lot more tentacles involved."

For the sake of her sanity, Konan decided to ignore his last comment before replying, "A gentlemen, huh. I seem to remember you practically raping me with your eyes the first time we met face to face."

"I said I was a gentleman. In no way did I even remotely state or imply that I am not a lecherous, perverted bastard who takes every opportunity he can to ogle highly attractive members of the female sex. In fact, it actually runs in the blood."

"What do you mean?" inquired Konan, slightly perplexed.

"Well, for one thing; my father, the future Rokudaime Hokage, was the _de-facto_ inventor of _Ero Ninjutsu_ such as _Oiroke no Jutsu _and _Harem no Jutsu_. You've probably never heard of them, but they become quite infamous later on. And my mother was apparently a closet pervert in her youth, and would always read _Icha Icha Paradise_ when she believed no one was watching…"

* * *

><p>Somewhere within a forest near Konoha, just past the shinobi training grounds, a certain Hyuuga gave a loud, resounding sneeze, startling herself and the surrounding wildlife.<p>

She quickly clamped a hand over her nose, terrified that someone else might find her hidden sanctuary, before she went back to reading the dirty, erotic, and orange-paper back novel sitting open in her lap.

'_I really need to stop doing this_,' she thought, '_it's shameless, and perverted, and disgusting…but I just can't stop myself! Every shameless page I read out of this perverted book just gives me more and more images of _him_. Oh, I hope no one finds out_!"

* * *

><p>"…of course, after she got together with my father, her perverted desires were focused completely on him. They were quite crazy about each other, especially when it came to making love."<p>

"How you know so much about your parents' sex life is beyond me, and frankly rather disturbing. Why are you telling me this anyways?"

"I'm bored, and I need to pass the time. Since me and Sasori-chan both have to slow down to accommodate your sluggish flying, this trip to Konoha is going to take a helluva a lot longer than I'm used to. Good thing we decided to ditch that convoy idea and just have you, me, and Sasori-chan travel to Konoha, or else we would have had to wait for the slow-ass fodder nin who were supposed to accompany you."

"Well I'm sorry that I don't have chakra boosters popping out of my ass like Sasori, or that I can't teleport across long distances like you," retorted Konan, "Speaking of teleportation, why didn't you just use that to take us there? Would've saved us a lot of time and trouble."

"If I did that, then I wouldn't have been able to creep you out with the story of my parents' sex life," said Choetsu with a shit-eating grin.

Konan blinked, "That…that doesn't even make any sense."

"Since when have I ever made sense? I mean, _seriously_! Did you forget who you're talking to for a second there? Oh, and look who's coming back," said Choetsu, before pointing at something behind Konan. Konan turned around, only to find Kyokutanna Sasori accelerating towards them, with his chakra thrusters on full blast.

In a few seconds, the armored puppeteer had already overtaken them at hypersonic speeds, before swinging around and firing a _massive_ blast of chakra from his right palm. His target was none other than Choetsu himself.

As the Shodai Kamikage watched the enormous beam of energy approach him, in his mind he was contemplating the various, innumerable methods he could use to deflect or avert the incoming attacking, '_Hmm; I could absorb it with Preta Path, dispel it with Deva Path's Shinra Tensei, counter it with my own laser using Asura Path, summon the Cerberus with Animal Path to act as a meat-shield, have the King of Hell eat it with Naraka Path, or use Human Path to…to…okay, that last path stumped me. But that's still five options to choose from. And that's just the Rinnegan_.'

'_I could also go intangible and phase through it with Ashihara no Nakatsukuni, warp it away with Kamui, redirect it back to puppet boy with a Jikukan: Kekkei, reflect it with a Space-Time Mirror, block it with Susanoo, evade it with Hiraishin, send it to the pocket dimension of Takamagahara, overwhelm it with Jinton, transform it into a sperm whale with Banbutsu Henge, or I could_…'

Alas, the chakra blast had already hit home while Choetsu was busy mulling over his tactics, and his body was engulfed in an aurora of flaring, azure light. Konan had to avert her eyes at the magnitude and luminosity of Sasori's hyper-charged blast, which lit up the sky like a supernova.

When the light had faded away and Sasori's blast had diminished, it was revealed that Choetsu had escaped completely unharmed. Not a scratch was on him, and his perfect lotus position from before remained intact with the swirling, circular pocket of air still below him.

'_…or I could just tank it like a total badass_,' thought Choetsu, finishing his internal musings from earlier. Sometimes the simplest solutions were the best solutions, after all.

"I understand that you're pissed about the meteor incident," said Choetsu out loud, "But by now, you should know better than to try and kill me. You're gonna need a lot more firepower and a lot more esoteric haxness to even come close to being able to permanently end my existence. But I'm sure you're already well aware of that."

"Yes, I'm aware of that. I wasn't actually trying to kill you," replied Sasori, "That blast was simply for the purpose of venting my annoyance and frustration with you, Choetsu-sama."

"I don't understand how you can go from attacking him, to calling him Choetsu-_sama_," interjected Konan, who simply shook her head in exasperation. The members of _Hoshikuzu_ were starting to make less and less sense to her every day. Well, at least Nagato was still reliable. '_Especially in bed_,' mentally added the origami mistress, with flushed cheeks and a slight giggle that hopefully went unnoticed by her companions.

"Well, nevertheless; I deserve some payback for your attack, puppet boy. So clench them cheeks and prepare the lube, 'cuz it's _raping_ time!" exclaimed Choetsu, causing Sasori to gulp in barely-repressed fear before the blonde Rikudou did a double-take, "Nah! Just kidding, Sasori-chan. Just give me your right index finger."

"W-What?"

"You heard me! Take your right index finger, rip it off, and hand it over! Or do you want me to do it for you?"

"Why in the world would I do that!"

Choetsu gave a frustrated sigh, before continuing, "Because if you don't, I really will rape you; using the Third Raikage's _One-Finger Hell Stab_ for maximum effectiveness at that. Now that's what I call a Thousand Years of Pain! And besides, it's just one finger. And you're a fucking puppet! Shouldn't be too much of a big deal; you can just get a new one."

Sasori gave a frustrated sigh, before hesitantly pointing his right index finger at Cheotsu, "Oh fine; I can see that there's no arguing with you, Choetsu-sama." Then he launched the finger like a rocket, allowing the Rikudou Hiraishin to catch it between his index and middle fingers.

"Good boy," said the shadow clone, before he took the dismembered finger and threw it hard over his shoulder, "Thanks to the modifications I made to your puppet form, that finger should grow back in no time."

Behind his metal faceplate, Sasori blinked in confusion, "Did you…did you just toss my finger away…_from over a thousand feet in the air_?"

"Uh, yeah…"

"Why the hell did you do that!…Choetsu-sama?"

"Don't worry; it's all part of the plan, honeybunch."

"What plan? And don't call me honeybunch!" snapped the Suna missing-nin, before adding another muffled "Choetsu-sama" at the end.

"It's a plan that is only revealed on a need-to-know basic. And you really don't need to know. Also; I reserve the right to call you anything I want, darling," answered the eccentric Rikudou, "Oh, and by the way; I think we should be arriving in Konoha airspace pretty damn soon. So buckle up your seatbelts, 'cuz Air Choetsu is about to go for an emergency landing!"

Choetsu excitedly stood up from his lotus position, before maneuvering the swirling air pocket below him like a surfboard as he shifted his trajectory downwards and accelerated. Both Sasori and Konan followed in pursuit.

"Why are you talking like we're in an airplane of some sorts!" yelled Sasori, addressing his oddball leader.

"How do you know what an airplane is? They haven't been invented in this manga yet!" interjected Konan.

Hearing this, Choetsu wiped a tear from the corner of his eyes, "I'm so proud of them…they've only been around me for a few weeks and they're already breaking the fourth wall! This is the shit I live for!"

It goes without saying that today; the village of Konohagakure was in for one crazy arrival.

* * *

><p>"Can I join you?" asked Hatake Kakashi politely, as he approached the little 8-year old boy crying by the wharf. Young Inari had been quick to flee from the dining room after his heated confrontation with the Hokage's only son, trailed only by the Copy-nin and his own tears.<p>

Kakashi had taken it upon himself to diffuse the precarious situation, and he already succeeded in getting Naruto himself to calm down. That only left Tazuna's grandson.

"You know; Naruto didn't really mean any harm with what he said earlier," began the scarecrow as he sat down next to Inari, "It's just that, what you said to him brought forth a lot of repressed feelings; in other words, he wasn't exactly himself."

"Repressed feelings? But I didn't say anything bad to him!" retorted Inari, while sobbing, "All I said was that he didn't know what real suffering meant. But that's true, right? He's a super strong ninja who's the son of a kage, and he has a caring sister and is always so carefree and upbeat. What does he know about how tragic life can become?"

"Inari-kun; just because a person has all those things, doesn't mean they couldn't have experienced true suffering in their life," explained the silver-haired _jonin_, "Naruto has been put under a lot of pressure as the Hokage's son, even more so than his sister. And, although he loves his family and he loves his village, I'm sure there are plenty of times where that pressure has gotten to him."

Kakashi remembered his own conversation with Naruto after the bell test a few weeks ago. It still amazed him that an extremely talented shinobi like Naruto could hide his skills for so long, playing the role of a dead last village idiot the whole time. He had played his role so well that only the Hokage himself had any clue or hint to what was beyond that mask of stupidity that his own son chose to wear.

"Now, I know this doesn't seem all that bad compared to the death of your father, Kaiza, but I assure you that there's more to it," continued the Sharingan-user, "You see; although Naruto hasn't really experienced the terrible pang of loss that comes with the death of a loved one, he has gone through something comparable to it in tragedy. Naruto has lost his innocence."

"His innocence? What do you mean?" inquired Inari, his tears replaced by a slight curiosity.

Kakashi sighed, before replying, "About five years ago, when Naruto was seven-years old, he was kidnapped. The two perpetrators, criminal missing-nin Azusa and his partner, a Konoha _chunin_ named Ruido, were the one's responsible. It was, admittedly, an ingenious plan on their part; I'm not aware of most of the details. All I know is that they kidnapped Naruto when his father was away on a key diplomatic mission, and that they somehow managed to evade Konoha's police force and even ANBU for three whole days."

"Their luck ran out when Jiraiya of the _Densatsu no Sannin_, who is Naruto's godfather, found their hideout. He killed Azusa and rescued Naruto, and he would have killed Ruido as well if he hadn't chosen to prioritize Naruto's health instead. It was the best decision that Jiraiya-sama could've made, since Naruto was in an extremely poor condition after the kidnapping."

"It didn't take us long to figure out that Naruto had been horrifically tortured."

Inari's eyes widened at this while his breath hitched within his throat. Naruto had been tortured; a seven-year old, even younger than he himself was today. That…that was unbelievable, not to mention downright horrifying.

"Azusa was utterly insane, and a sadist; a man who gleaned pleasure from the pain and suffering of others. In fact, Azusa had become a missing-nin in the first place because he was caught torturing children, most of them being the orphaned sons and daughters of the very men and women he had killed on his missions."

"The things he had subjugated Naruto through," said Kakashi with an uncharacteristic shiver," would break even a full-grown, veteran shinobi. It was absolutely bone-chilling. Naruto was a complete wreck after that incident. He became a basket-case of psychological issues, including but not limited to post-traumatic stress disorder."

"Minato-sensei, the Hokage, had him sent to all of the most renowned therapist in the village, and even outside of it. But their counseling only helped somewhat. It was only the gradual effects of time, the efforts of Naruto's family, and the boy's own powerful will that eventually healed his mind. But, even to this day, I think Naruto still has deep-seated issues with what happened during those three days."

"He remembers being kidnapped and who his kidnappers are, but his mind has repressed all of the gruesome details, burying it deep within his subconscious," explained the masked Cyclops, while staring intently at his young speaking companion, "And I believe that what you said to him earlier triggered a release of some of these memories. That's why he overreacted and yelled at you earlier. Do you understand?"

"I…I think…I think I get it," Inari responded, with a hint of conviction behind his tiny voice, haggard by sobbing, "I guess it was really wrong of me to accuse Naruto of not knowing real suffering, when I didn't even know much about him."

"I just want you to understand where Naruto is coming from. You really don't have to blame yourself like that," said Kakashi with a reassuring tone, "Yes, at first glance, Naruto does seem like a boy with everything. A famous, powerful, and respected father, a loving, affectionate mother, and a twin sister who supports him in everything he does. The way you judged him was understandable, if you were only to look at that."

"But I'm sure that's not the only thing that has you in tears tonight," added the Hatake.

Inari nodded, "It's just; I know now that Naruto didn't really mean what he said earlier, and he was just acting spontaneously in the moment, but…a part of me is almost convinced that, maybe, what he said has some truth to it. That I really am a crybaby who is just too scared to do anything about the situation I'm in."

"And you're ashamed of that, right?"

"I…I think. I don't know, really. It's…It's all so confusing!"

"…" There was a brief silence, as Kakashi contemplated the conflicted 8-year old sitting next to him; far more conflicted than any 8-year old should really be. Then again, being shinobi, he knew a lot of 8 year-olds and even younger more conflicted than Inari. He was probably the poster boy for them.

"Tazuna-san told us the story about your father," began Kakashi, after the pause ended, "He sounded like a very courageous man. You should be proud to be his son. You're almost like Naruto in that sense."

Inari looked up at the silver-hair, with a look of confusion, "What do you mean?" How could he possibly be like Naruto? Namikaze Naruto was strong, fast, confidant, energetic, optimistic, and everything else that Inari wished he could be but wasn't. And yes, he had his demons (even worse than Inari's own, he had to admit); but he overcame them through sheer force of will, while Inari just wallowed in self-pity. How could they possibly be alike?

"You two have some very big shoes to fill," answered Kakashi, causing Inari's eyes to widen, "Both of your fathers are the undisputed heroes of their country; Namikaze Minato of the Land of Fire, and Kaiza of the Land of Waves. Living in the shadow of their greatness is difficult. And Naruto has poured every last ounce of his heart and soul, the entirety of his very being, into trying to escape his father's shadow."

"And of course; there were times when Naruto's will failed him. There were times when Naruto allowed the pressure to get to him, causing him to wallow in his own-self pity; just like you're doing now, Inari-kun. But he overcame that, with time. And you can too."

Inari was staring in awe, his mouth agape, while he listened to the revolutionary words coming out of the teacher's mouth.

"I guess what I'm just trying to say is; live up to your father's legacy, Inari. I know you can."

Then, after another reassuring look and a warm "eye smile", Kakashi picked himself up before walking away, leaving his client's grandson alone to ponder his words.

* * *

><p>"Watcha' got there, huh?" half-whispered, half-exclaimed a familiar, feminine voice from behind, startling the crouching Hoshino Daisuke of Team 6. He turned around, while simultaneously shielding the objectitem/artifact/macguffin/thing/whatever that he was holding in his hands from any prying eyes. Specifically, the prying, emerald eyes of one Haruno Sakura, also of Team 6. With her pale, nearly flawless skin and her bubblegum hair, she looked undeniably cute staring down on him while leaning forward, with her petite hands resting on the top of her exposed knees.

If she had just been a little more "developed" and was wearing a lower cut dress, Daisuke could've been getting an eyeful of some rather enticing cleavage at the moment. Of course, if he ever actually got the opportunity to try that, Sakura would beat his ass to kingdom come in a heart beat. Because, underneath that admittedly attractive exterior lied the heart of a shrieking, temperamental banshee!

Literally.

"N-nothing; just some random crap I found. I mean, not crap, as in shit, but…but you know what I mean," replied Daisuke awkwardly, while continuing to hide the object in his hands.

"Can I see?" asked Sakura with a saccharine voice.

"Nope!"

"Daisuke!" growled Sakura, as her expression became more and more irate. And was that a vein popping in her left temple?

"Okay, okay! Geez; don't get your panties in a bunch, princess," Daisuke grumbled before turning around and revealing his secret.

A finger.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaa! Is that…is that…is that an amputated FINGER! You're disgusting, Daisuke-baka! Absolutely repulsive!" squealed the cherry blossom girl as she revolted from the sight of the object in Daisuke's hand.

"Calm the fuck down, Sakura! It's not a human finger, damn it!" exclaimed Daisuke in protest, "Look closer!"

Miraculously, Sakura managed to calm down and did as he asked, before finding that the finger was indeed, not a human's. It was made of metal.

"Wha-…w-where did you get that? And more importantly; what is it?" asked Sakura, her voice a mixture of suspicion and curiosity.

"It literally just fell from the sky," answered Daisuke, "I'm not even joking."

"You mean this thing, this metal finger, just fell from the sky. It just fell out of the sky and landed right in front of you. And you picked it up," said Sakura, incredulously, "Are you stupid. What if it was a trap! We're on a mission, remember!"

"I…I know that," mumbled Daisuke weakly, his cheeks flushed bright red, "It's just that, when the finger landed, it sort of…called to me. The finger called for me to pick it up!"

"It called for you?" echoed Sakura, again with incredulousness.

"Yeah! It was like when I first laid my eyes on it, these voices in my head started chanting "pick the fucking finger up, pick the fucking finger up, pick the fucking finger up, pick the fucking finger up, pick the fucking finger up, pick the fucking finger up" over and over and over again. It was so annoying; I just had to do it to make the voices stop!"

Sakura blinked, before staring at the boy in front of her with an unreadable expression on her face. Daisuke whimpered under the heat of her intense gaze. The awkward silence lasted a little longer before Sakura finally broke it.

"That's the dumbest story I've ever heard!"

"But it's true! I'm not making this up!"

"Yeah, right! "Not making this up" my ass! Ughh, why do I have to be on a team with such a moron? I should've been on Sasuke-kun's team, not with some loser like yo-MPHM!" Sakura gave a muffled cry as Daisuke rapidly closed the gap between them, before slamming his lips against hers. Sakura almost had a heart attack from the shock, as she felt the sensation of being kissed for the very first time.

But then the kiss ended even faster than it had begun, as Daisuke suddenly disengaged their contact. Sakura looked at him with eyes wide in astonishment, bewilderment, and…and another emotion that could not be identified at the moment.

"Daisuke that…that was…wha-…what…WHAT! THE! HELL! WAS THAT!" Oh yes, it was one hundred percent rage.

In response, Daisuke grasped her firmly by the shoulders, before yelling in her face, "That was for calling me a loser! You can call me a moron, or an idiot, or a dumbass all you want, but don't call me a fucking loser!"

"B-but why…why the kiss!"

"It was the fastest way to shut you up!"

"You…you…you…" muttered Sakura as her face darkened; causing Daisuke to lose all the confidence he had built up, "that…THAT WAS MY FIRST KISS! I WAS SAVING THAT FOR SASUKE-KUN, YOU ASSHOLE!" The furious _genin_ kunoichi cocked her fist back in preparation of delivering a massively powerful, immensely painful, and completely rage-fueled fist to Daisuke's hapless face.

Thankfully, it never came.

"Is there something the matter?" interrupted another voice, to Daisuke's supreme relief. Both genin turned around to find their jonin-sensei, Uchiha Yosho, observing them with a look of concern on his face. Trailing behind the Uchiha sensei was their third teammate, Yamada Jiro.

"Y-Yosho-sensei!" stammered Sakura, "I was…he…Daisuke found this…this weird finger thing in the woods, and I was telling him that it could be a trap…or something. But he wouldn't listen to me!"

"Finger?" echoed Yosho, after which Sakura then yanked the metal finger from Daisuke's hand before presenting it to their mutual teacher, "A metal…finger. Huh; this is odd. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. Where did you find it, Daisuke?"

Although Yosho's voice was calm, underneath it was conflicted turmoil as the jonin heavily contemplated the situation at hand. On one hand, there was a big possibility that this was some sort of trap, like his pink-haired student insisted. On the other hand, using such a strange, unusual, and attention-grabbing object for a trap seemed counter-productive; it would just increase the chances of them avoiding it. In the end, Yosho did not know what to think; this metal finger was just too weird.

"It literally just fell from the sky. I swear I'm not lying," said Daisuke, "I don't know why Sakura won't believe me!"

"Because you're an idiot and your story is stupid! That's why I don't believe you, Daisuke-baka!"

Yosho sighed at his two most problematic students' antics, before holding out his hand and saying, "Here; let me examine that finger for you. Then I can determine whether it's dangerous or not."

Sakura and Daisuke gave each other a look, before the Haruno handed the metal finger over to their sensei. After taking the finger, Yosho activated his crimson Sharingan eyes, causing all of the genin present to gasp in awe. Using his infamous bloodline, Yosho examined the finger intently, looking for any sign of a trap.

It didn't take him long to discover the tracking seal etched on the finger's tip. It was invisible to the naked eye, which is why neither Daisuke nor Sakura had managed to find it. But it was perfectly visible for Yosho's acute vision.

When he was finished with his inspection of the strange finger, the Uchiha turned towards his students and said, "I seemed to have found a tracking seal on this finger."

"A tracking seal? Y-You mean someone was trying to _track_ a metal finger?" asked Sakura incredulously, "Why would anyone want to do that?"

"I'm not sure," replied the jonin, "But the seal is of Konoha design, so there might be a chance that this seal isn't dangerous. Just to be safe though; I think you should really dispose of it, Daisuke-kun."

The 12-year old boy nodded hesitantly while taking the metal finger back from his sensei, before he walked away into the woods to get rid of it. He found a decent tree hole to bury the enigmatic phalange in; one where no hapless bystander would stumble upon accidently. It would do for now.

"Good riddance. You caused me far too much trouble anyways," whispered Daisuke before dropping the finger into the tree hole. As soon as he let go, however, an acute, stinging pain erupted at every point within his head, causing Daisuke to collapse to the ground as a cacophony of shrieking voices resounded against his ears.

"TAKE THE DAMN FINGER BACK! TAKE THE DAMN FINGER BACK! TAKE THE DAMN FINGER BACK! TAKE THE DAMN FINGER BACK! TAKE THE DAMN FINGER BACK! TAKE THE DAMN FINGER BACK! TAKE THE DAMN FINGER BACK! TAKE THE DAMN FINGER BACK! TAKE THE DAMN FINGER BACK! TAKE THE DAMN FINGER BACK! TAKE THE DAMN FINGER BACK! TAKE THE DAMN FINGER BACK! TAKE THE DAMN FINGER BACK! TAKE THE DAMN FINGER BACK! TAKE THE DAMN FINGER BACK! TAKE THE DAMN FINGER BACK! TAKE THE DAMN FINGER BACK! TAKE THE DAMN FINGER-…"

"_**OKAY**_!" exclaimed Daisuke in rage and desperation, while cradling his harshly afflicted head, "I will, I will! Please, just make it stop!"

And then the shrieking voices ceased. Daisuke's head finally seemed clear after what felt like an eternity of gruesome torture; although in reality it was only a few seconds.

Not wanting a repeat of his most recent, painful experience; Daisuke immediately got up and retrieved the metal finger from the tree hole, before shoving it into his half-empty kunai pouch and walking away.

It looks like he was stuck with the strange, metallic finger for a little bit longer.

* * *

><p>They landed in an empty clearing, several meters from the edge of the path leading to Konoha's main gate. The swirling pocket of air underneath Choetsu's body dispersed, allowing the Rikudou Hiraishin's feet to make contact with solid ground again.<p>

Konan's paper angel wings disappeared, folding back into her body like the origami she was so fond of. Sasori cut power from the Kyokutanna's chakra thruster wings before slowly descending to ground level using the exhaust from his palm and heel thrusters.

When all three were on level ground, Choetsu turned to the Suna missing-nin before saying, "If I were you, I would get rid of the armor. You won't need it in Konoha, and it'll just draw some unneeded attention. Plus, if that perverted hermit Jiraiya shows up, he'll recognize you right away."

"Whatever you say, Choetsu-sama," Sasori complied, releasing each of the individual mechanical pieces that made up his powered suit. They all hovered in the air around him for a few seconds before being resealed within Sasori's black under-sheath. After which, the under-sheath somehow morphed into a _Hoshikuzu_ cloak to cover Sasori's puppet body.

"Excellent! Now then; does anyone need to go on a last-minute potty break, write a letter to a secret lover, put on copious amounts of mascara and/or lip-gloss, or pray to some sort of higher power, including me, before we descend into the hell called Konoha, that which the very essence of nightmares and terrors are crafted from!" announced Choetsu in an overly dramatic fashion, causing his two companions to look very nervous, "Just kidding! The Hidden Leaf is perfectly normal, at least for a shinobi village. It's so normal that it can practically be boring at times, which is why devilishly handsome and unbelievably epic individuals such as I exist."

"Are you done with your self-absorbed rant?" inquired Konan stoically, but with a slight hint of annoyance.

"It's not really a rant, so much as the psychotic and completely irrelevant ramblings of a transcendent existence with far too much time on his hands," explained the blonde Rinnegan-user with utter nonchalance, "Anyways, as I was saying…shut up, Sasori!"

"What! I didn't even-…"

"Irrelevant! Don't even try to deny and make excuses for the incoherent ramblings you've been rambling about in some sort of deranged effort to waste our time! Honestly; sometimes I think that you just have far too much time on your hands, puppet boy."

"I'm not even going to bother," said Sasori with a defeated sigh.

"You really shouldn't," interjected Konan, "Come on; let's just go before he gets even worse."

"You guys can do that!" Choetsu yelled back, as he watched the two Hoshikuzu members walk away towards the path, "I'll stay here and go squirrel hunting!"

Konan looked back at him a disapproving glare, 'What are you talking about; we need you with us so we can get past the front gate. You're officially the Yondaime's "brother" after all."

Choetsu stared back with massive, watery puppy-dog eyes, that somehow looked disturbing and utterly adorable at the same time, "B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-but SQUIRELLS!"

"Y-you can go squirrel hunting later," replied Konan with a hint of reluctance, to her own distress. She swore it had to be that puppy-dog look. She didn't even know he was capable of such a facial expression.

"Then will you two join my new squirrel hunting club?" asked the Rikudou Hiraishin innocently, still with the puppy-dog eyes.

"No way in hel-…OWW!" began Sasori before being interrupted by a painful elbow from Konan.

"Of course we will, Choetsu. As soon as we get done with these negotiations."

Choetsu just shrugged in response, before starting to walk in their direction. "Let's just get this shit over with then."

* * *

><p>Guard duty in Konoha was infamous for two things; being heavily associated with mind-numbing boredom, and having the benefit of relative safety. You were most likely not going to die while guarding the main gates, as who would be stupid enough to assault a major village from the <em>front<em>.

But as a result, you were most likely not going to see any action whatsoever, which is why guard duty was such a dull and monotonous job that not many wanted. Most of the shinobi who undertook guard duty were either being punished for some reason and didn't really want the job, or were extremely lazy, cowardly, and/or completely lacked any form of ambition.

More often or not, those stuck with guard duty could care less about their job, and it reflected in their performance. It was very rare to find an individual who actually enjoyed and put effort into guarding Konoha's main gates, finding pride in even such a simple task.

The _chunin _Kamizuki Izumo was one of these rare individuals, while his partner and best friend, Hagane Kotetsu was not. Kotetsu would much rather relax in the jonin standby room eating syrup, then be stuck here doing this dreary and tedious chore that wasn't even worth the title "mission", in his opinion.

To kill time and make this repetitive job seem just a tad bit more bearable, Kotetsu would always rate arriving parties passing through the gate on a scale from one to ten based on how interesting/unusual/suspicious/just plain _weird_ they seemed at a glance.

The three cloaked individuals approaching the gate were definitely a solid eight, if not higher. Their billowing, black cloaks covered in fields of glittering stars, shining, spiral galaxies, and multi-chromatic clouds of haze that could be anything from brilliant nebulae to majestic auroras were some of the most beautiful designs Izumo or Kotetsu had ever seen.

Their high collars with a design of six crimson_ magatama_ at the front covered their necks and the bottom of their faces, while hats of straw enshrouded the tops of their heads in shadow.

As they walked in unison towards the guard post, Kotetsu couldn't help but see how very suspicious these three were.

"Halt!" exclaimed Kotetsu's partner, "Identify yourself and state your business or we can't allow you to pass!"

In response, the central figure pointed a single outstretched finger at him in a rude, accusative gesture before bellowing, "Don't you dare pull that "you shall not pass" shit on me! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!" followed by an exuberant fist bump.

Izumo sweatdropped before replying, "My apologies, sir, but I didn't mean anything offensive by that; all I need is some identification. It's standard procedure."

There was a pregnant pause while the cloaked man's companions facepalmed simultaneously, before their leader gave an awkward cough and continued, "Uh yeah, sorry about that Kamina impression. I really couldn't help myself. As for my identity, well; it would probably better if I just showed you…"

And then the cloaked man removes his straw hat, revealing…the Yondaime?

"H-H-Hokage-sama, wha-…what are you doing here?" stammered Kotetsu, before he looked closer, "W-Wait; you're not…you're not the Hokage!"

"No shit, Sherlock!" retorted the Yondaime look-alike, "Did the freaky eyes and the pale, Hyuuga-like complexion give it away? Or was it the fact that my personality and manner of speech completely mismatched that of my brother's."

"His…his brother? Wait! Don't tell me; you're…you're that Uzumaki Choetsu guy that everyone's been talking about," said Kotetsu, "The Yondaime's long lost brother!"

"No, I'm Orochimaru disguised with a _henge_," replied Choetsu sarcastically, causing the two chunin to tense and draw weapons, "Chill, chill. Just relax you two; it was just a joke, damn it!"

"Now that you mentioned Henge no Jutsu, how can we trust you?" inquired Izumo, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Well, first of all; if I was really a disguised Orochimaru, I wouldn't blurt it out like a total dumbass, unless I had a death wish or something. And second of all; would Orochimaru be able to do this!" exclaimed Choetsu before forming a Rasengan in his hands in front of the two guards.

Both Konoha chunin were struck by awe as they watched the supposed brother of their Hokage perform his legendary, original jutsu. Izumo, still skeptical, decided to form a tiger seal before yelling, "_Kai_!" in an attempt to dispel what he suspected to be a _genjutsu_. It failed.

"Y-You really are the Yondaime's brother! No one else could have learned the Rasengan without his approval."

"Good, good; you believe me now. A smart move, 'cuz if you had chosen not to, I would have seriously fucked you up," stated the Kamikage mockingly, causing the two sentries to gulp nervously, "I always wondered what a Rasengan to the ass would look like. But enough of that; I have a date with Minato-nii. So, if you'll just excuse me and my companions, boys…"

"Of course, Choetsu-sama," said both Izumo and Kotetsu in unison, as they steered clear of the intimidating figure who was rumored to be just as strong if not stronger than his more well-known sibling. The blonde gave them both cheeky grins as he passed while his two silent companions trailed behind him.

As they watched the three cloaked Hoshikuzu members walk into their village, Izumo suddenly remembered something, "Hey Kotetsu; we forgot to ask them what their business in the village was. Shouldn't we-…"

"Nope," interjected Kotetsu, cutting him off, "Just drop it, Izumo. I'm not talking to that crazy fucker again if I can help it! Earlier, I felt like the longer I spent in his presence, the higher the chance of me experiencing something completely horrifying and unpleasant. And besides; he's the Hokage's brother! Whatever his business is, it's probably classified and for the Yondaime's eyes only."

Izumo sighed, "Whatever you say, Kotetsu."

* * *

><p>Danzo gave up.<p>

Every man had a breaking point, even veteran shinobi, and Danzo had just reached his. He had been fighting, and losing, this game of cat and mouse that in no way could be called a battle; no matter what tactic or strategy he used, no matter how he tried to escape this perpetuating loop, and no matter how many times Izanagi revived him, it didn't seem like there was any way out for him.

He had been trapped in Izanami for what seemed like an eternity. Only _Kami_ knows how many times he has been stabbed by Itachi's blade and burned alive, only for Izanagi to bring him back to life so that he could be killed again a few minutes later.

They say that the human body can get used to anything, but Danzo didn't think he would ever get used to the pain of having his entire body seared by a raging inferno. Every death was just as painful and excruciating as the last.

"Do you give up yet, Danzo?" asked Itachi, who was standing across from him with his katana in hand, "Do you finally accept the fate that I have decided for you?"

The old war hawk was about to spit back a firm no, just like the uncountable past iterations, but hesitated at the last minute. Was it really worth it to be defiant in the fate of such hopelessness? He was a realist, so it was obvious to him that he wouldn't be able to escape Izanami, no matter what he did.

Danzo had been fighting non-stop since the Yondaime had first intercepted him, in what seemed so long ago. He has been stabbed, decapitated, bisected, decimated at the molecular level, smashed, crushed, and vaporized. His head has been splattered innumerable times by detonating exploding tags in his eye ball, and now he was going through an endless loop of being stabbed by a flaming katana and then incinerated.

Mentally, he couldn't take much more. Would finally accepting an ultimate death be so much worse than having to go through this endless hell for any longer?

With three words, Shimura Danzo made his last decision, "I give up."

Itachi's brow rose ever so slightly, "What was that, Danzo?"

"You win, Itachi. I'm going to accept my destiny. The next time you kill me will be the last," Danzo reiterated, before a barely noticeable smirk made its way on his face, '_With the Reverse Four Symbol Seal etched on my chest, I might even be able to get something out of my death, although of course I won't be alive to see it_.'

Itachi nodded somberly at the aged shinobi, before gripping his katana firmly and charging forward. The blade was no longer emblazoned; Itachi wanted this to be a clean kill.

Danzo closed his eyes, waiting in resigned anticipation of the coming blade. It was only moments later when the old war hawk gasped out in pain, as the katana was plunged into his gut once again.

"This is it. This is the end for you, Shimura Danzo," whispered Itachi, as held the sword in place within Danzo's stomach.

The ROOT leader grunted a bit while coughing up blood, before replying weakly, "That…that is true, but…it…it's also…the end for you too." Then, the former Leaf elder grabbed at the front of his robes, before opening them up to reveal the Reverse Four Symbol Seal on his chest.

"My final death shall not be in vain! I am going to take you to hell with me, Itachi!" exclaimed Danzo in hysterics, as he waited for the dead man's switch to activate and seal Itachi within his soon-to-be corpse.

Nothing happened.

"You were saying, Danzo," said Itachi smugly. Danzo gaped in shock, as he was unable to comprehend what had just happened. Why didn't his trap work?

"W-what's going…going on? My…my reverse seal should…should've sealed you away…"

Itachi smirked, before answering, "Yes, under normal circumstances that should've have work; emphasis on normal. If we were in the real world, my body would be trapped within yours right now. _But we're not in the real world right now_…"

"…_we're in MY world_."

Then, there was a blinding flash of light, and the next thing he knew Danzo was crucified to a wooden cross with surrounding him on all sides. The surroundings, no, the entire world had an oddly-colored negative tone to it, and the sky was jet black. Standing in front of him was Itachi, with two fully functional Sharingan eyes. Neither was blind.

Danzo knew what this. This was…

"_Tsukuyomi_!" declared Itachi, "You are now locked within an illusionary, dream-like existence in which all space, time, matter, and energy are under my total control. And you've been trapped in it since our battle started."

Danzo's eyes widened in complete bafflement, "You…you mean…that I…"

"That's right. You were never trapped in Izanami. I never even used it. It's been all Tsukuyomi from the start."

"But how…the loop…and the-…"

"Nothing but an illusion, Danzo," said the ANBU Commander, "I could have used Izanami for real, but would it really be worth it to sacrifice an entire eye just to get my revenge on you. No matter how much I hate you, I think not."

"So I used Tsukuyomi instead to replicate the observable effects of Izanami; specifically, the never-ending time loop. And you fell for it."

"But Shisui's eye…my Mangekyo should hav-…"

"Minato-sensei tricked you into giving it up, remember. Before, I couldn't use Tsukuyomi on you because you had his eye and Shisui had even more illusionary prowess than I do. But since you sacrificed it, I was free to use any genjutsu I wanted on you."

"So, all this time, it has been nothing but en elaborate trap. A trap designed to trick me into accepting death," said Danzo with a defeated tone, "You…both of you have completely outmaneuvered me. It doesn't seem like there's any hope at all for my victory, anymore."

"Oh please, you old fool, don't think so highly of yourself. With Minato-sensei and me both after you, there was never any hope for you in the first place. And now, it's time for your well-deserved punishment."

A look of abject horror blossomed upon Danzo's wrinkled face, as Itachi slowly walked forward before reaching out with his right hand. The hand inched closer and closer, before finally reaching Danzo's face around his left Sharingan-less eye. Itachi rested his fingertips on Danzo's skin for just a little bit longer, before the unspeakable happened.

With a sickeningly squelching noise, Itachi's fingers plunged into Danzo's eye socket, causing the old man to shriek in unbelievable pain. He continued screaming as the Uchiha's fingers wrapped around the entire circumference of his eye ball, before the genius prodigy slowly and painfully ripped the eye from its very socket.

When he was done, Danzo's eye socket was left bare and empty, with blood and other fluids gushing from it as Danzo howled in his suffering. The raven-haired teen took the freshly plucked eyeball before presenting it to Danzo, who looked at the eye in unadulterated terror.

"Does this remind you of anything, Danzo; being helpless as you watch me pluck an eyeball right out of your socket. Don't worry; you can have it back," said Itachi before the eyeball flew out of his hand and harshly drove itself back into Danzo's socket, causing the old war hawk to experience even more hellish torture.

Itachi had a contemplative look on his face, "Hmm; this level of torture…the amount of pain and suffering I'm causing you…it's not enough. It's not enough to satisfy my desire for vengeance." And then he snapped his fingers, causing hundereds, thousands, maybe even millions of perfect replicas of the two individuals to materialize all around them.

Then, each of the Itachi replicas reached for the left eye of each Danzo replica, before plucking their eyeballs once again. The result was a deafening cacophony of shrieks, howls, growls, and roars as all of the Danzo replicas experienced agony like never before.

"You see all of these replicas," chorused all of the Itachis in unison, "All of your senses are perfectly linked. Your pain, _all of your pain_, will be felt as one, magnified a million-fold. This is the ultimate extent of my revenge, Danzo."

The Danzos were in too much pain to respond, so the Itachis simply continued, "My Tsukuyomi last for exactly 72 hours, or three days, but the time you spent in my fake loop amounted up to 1 day, 8 hours, 17 minutes, and 42 seconds.

"So for the remaining time each and every one of my replicas will be plucking and re-plucking the left eyeball of each and every one of your replicas, over and over again until the illusion has ended. And now you have 1 day, 16 hours, 43 minutes, and 18 seconds left to go. _Let us begin_…"

* * *

><p><em>Samurai Bridge, nine minutes since battle start…<em>

One moment, Minato was watching his apprentice and the traitorous former Leaf elder eye each other across the bridge, when the next, Danzo had suddenly and unceremoniously collapsed to the ground.

Minato turned to look at his raven-haired subordinate before saying, "Let me guess…Tsukuyomi?"

"Of course," was his reply.

"I thought you said you were going to use Izanami, whatever that is."

"A mere bluff, to lure Danzo into one, final trap," explained Itachi, "If I had actually used Izanami, I would have gone blind in one eye. Losing half of my sight is not worth the revenge, especially when there are other ways of obtaining it. Like Tsukuyomi, as you can see."

"So…that's it then. It's over. Danzo's finished, right?"

Itachi quickly answered, "Not quite," before walking over to Danzo's unconscious body and flipping it over, with his stomach facing skywards. He unraveled the front of the elder's robes, exposing Danzo's chest to the world. Itachi examined it with his Sharingan.

"Hmm, a Reverse Four Symbol Seal; just like in Tsukuyomi," stated Itachi out loud.

Minato's brow raised ever so slightly, "A reverse seal? So he trying to take us with him, huh. Pretty clever, if weren't for the fact that I'm a seal master. Here, let me handle that. It will only take a minute."

The Fourth Hokage walked to Itachi's side, before placing his palm on the now-visible reverse seal etched upon Danzo's chest.

"When you're done with that, what would you have me do?" inquired Itachi of his mentor.

"Well, I said it would be your job to kill him, so just finish him off with whatever I guess," was the Hokage's response.

Itachi nodded, before unsheathing the katana on his back once more.

* * *

><p><em>Samurai Bridge, ten minutes since battle start…<em>

The blade of a katana plunged into Danzo's heart, killing him once and for all.

"See, I told him that he would be dead within 10 minutes, and just before my next office appointment too. It seems like I managed to keep all of my promises," mused Minato as he sealed Danzo's lifeless body into an empty scroll, "Well, it looks like its time to go, now that we're finally done here. I can't afford to miss my appointment after all. Let's go, Itachi."

"Of course, Minato-sensei," and then the two vanished in a yellow flash.

As he watched the two leave, Uzumaki Choetsu sighed before saying, "Well, that epic little battle sated my boredom for a good ten minutes. And now I'm bored again. Story of my life…" Then he too vanished with a yellow flash, replacing himself with the shadow clone he had in Konoha at the moment.

He had an appointment to attend, after all.

* * *

><p>When Minato and Itachi reappeared in the Hokage's office, the blonde-haired Namikaze immediately took a set in his own desk, before tidying up his cluttered workspace.<p>

"Well, that's that! Mission accomplished!" exclaimed the Yondaime, before turning to his subordinate once again, "You'll receive your pay in the usual manner, of course. And don't forget to write up a report for me, Itachi. But anyways; good job and dismissed!"

Itachi nodded, before vanishing in a flicker of black, leaving his mentor and superior alone in the room. Minato looked around before setting his eyes upon one of the clocks hanging in the office.

"Looks like we were just in time," mused the village leader, before the sound of knocking resounded through the room, "Come on in! The door's unlocked."

And then the door opened, revealing none other than…

'_Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. OH FUCK NO!_'

"Guess whose back! Did you miss me, dear brother of mine?"

TBC

A.N. Did you guys really think I would make Itachi blind? Come on, people! Anyways, read and review, people!


	25. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: I own Naruto about as much as I own a mansion and a fleet of lambourghinis...which I do in fact. Heh, just kidding.

Author's Note: Sorry for the late (by about a week) update; I've been busy lately with summer and friends and family. But, better late then never, so please enjoy the latest installment of It's Rikudou Hiraishin to You!

Chapter 24: Dream of a Bijuu's Past

_"Guess whose back! Did you miss me, dear brother of mine?"_

Namikaze Minato, the revered Fourth Hokage, looked upon the almost-identical copy of himself with an expression of abject horror and a stare so intense that he failed to notice two other cloaked figures shuffle into the room behind his time-displaced grandson.

As he watched Uzumaki Choetsu, the _Rikudou Hiraishin_, beam at him with a giant, mischievous grin from across the room, Minato couldn't help but think, '_Of all the people in the world who could be having an appointment with me right now, it just had to be him. I really don't want to deal with this, whatever this is about_.'

And so, without saying anything, the Yondaime simply stared. And stared. And stared. And stared. And stared. And stared. And stared. And-…

"Oh come on! Aren't you going to say anything for the "welcomed" arrival of your long lost brother, Mi-na-to-nii?" The way in which Choetsu had annunciated his name, in such a playful and mischievous fashion, sent cold shivers down Minato's spine and triggered numerous warning signals in his brain.

Warning signals that caused him to immediately flee in panic using his signature _Hiraishin no Jutsu_.

"And there he goes," said Choetsu with an amused tone, upon witnessing the yellow flash, "To be honest though; I expected him to panic the instant I entered the room and immediately flee-on-sight. Heh, see what I did there."

"Hilarious," deadpanned Sasori.

Konan gave a brief, tiny laugh at the exchange before joining in, "Why am I not surprised that even the legendary Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure is scared shitless of you."

Choetsu simply shrugged before snapping his fingers, causing the Fourth to reappear back in the room with another yellow flash. Upon realizing that he was back in his office, rather than on the abandoned, tropical island of his that he had chosen to flee to, Minato immediately panicked and tried to escape again with Hiraishin.

It didn't work.

"Don't bother with the Flying Thunder God technique," said Choetsu, "I sealed this room in its own little pocket dimension, detached from the rest of reality. You won't be able to teleport out of it anytime soon. By the way; I always thought that it was rather funny that your version of Hiraishin is physically incapable of bypassing dimensional barriers, when the technique it was based on, _Kuchiyose no Jutsu_, is specifically designed for inter-dimensional transportation."

"What do you mean "your" version of Hiraishin," inquired the blonde-haired Namikaze, speaking for the first time since the "appointment" had started.

His time-travelling descendent smirked, before replying, "Haven't you noticed the fact that I can teleport wherever the hell I want, _jutsu-shiki_ be damned. And yes; that includes teleporting across dimensions."

"So you upgraded my jutsu, huh. You seriously need to teach me that."

"Sorry gramps; it would cause way to many complications if I taught you such an advanced technique this early in the timeline. And that's just my way of saying that I'm too damn lazy to teach you," explained the True Rikudou, "Besides; you seem to be doing perfectly fine without it. You kicked an _Izanagi_-using Danzo's ass all over the place while still relying on those admittedly awesome kunai of yours, with a little help from Itachi-kun of course."

Minato's eyes widened upon hearing his grandson's statement, "Wait! You saw that?"

"Of course! I see everything! Even Konan-chan when she's in the shower, washing her unbelievably sexy body and moaning Nagato's name while she mast-MMPH!" began Choetsu, before being interrupted short of finishing his sentence when an enraged Konan violently slapped him in the face.

"I'm gonna kill you, Choetsu!"

What happened next was so utterly brutal and traumatizing that it was literally beyond human comprehension. So we'll skip this part. All that one needed to know was that this scene was the ultimate embodiment of the phrase "hell hath no fury like a women scorned".

When it was over, Choetsu was left in a smoking pile on the floor. Konan had somehow caused the Rikudou to spontaneously combust, despite not having a single _Katon _in her arsenal. It was only thanks to a quick _Suiton_ from Minato that the angel's hapless victim was only smoking and not burning right now.

An awkward silence promptly set in, as the two remaining males in the room still conscious looked at Choetsu's smoking body, then to Konan, then back again to Choestu.

"So…"

"Yeah…"

"Right…

"Uh huh…"

"…"

"…"

"Holy shit, Konan-chan! I love you!" exclaimed a now awakened Choetsu as he suddenly jumped up from his fetal position on the floor, before pulling an utterly shocked and flustered Konan into a constricting bear hug, "I love you, I love you, I love you! That was the best foreplay I've ever had! Okay, maybe not the best, but you get my point."

Minato and Sasori simply gaped at the incredibly bizarre scene, unable to process what had just happened right in front of their eyes.

"F-f-f-f-f-f-f-foreplay; w-what the hell are you talking about!" stammered a bewildered Konan.

"While you were beating the hell out of me in your oh-so sexy way, I was using my selective masochism technique to convert all of my pain into sweet, sweet pleasure. It was basically like having intercourse for me!"

Konan started twitching, "Your…your selective masochism…is an actual _technique_?"

"Duh! Of course it's a technique. What better way to unnerve and discourage an enemy torture specialist than to suddenly scream out "I'm coming!" in the middle of an interrogation session, while genuinely meaning it. I call it _Selective Masochism no Jutsu_!"

"…for the sake of all that is sane, I'm not even going to bother asking."

"A wise decision, young grasshopper," replied Choetsu with a shit-eating grin.

"Anyways!" interjected Minato, in a desperate attempt to steer the conversation to a less disturbing topic, while his own mind tried and failed to repress the memory of what had just happened, "Back to what I was saying before; so apparently, you, Choetsu, watched my entire fight with Danzo, and didn't bother stepping in?"

Choetsu shrugged once again, "You didn't need it. You and Itachi-chan were kicking Danzo's ass all over the place, which was quite amusing to watch. By the way; you do know that Danzo's Izanagi had a one minute time limit for each eye, and that he only had ten eyes, right? Which means he could only use Izanagi for up to _ten minutes_…"

Minato pondered Choetsu's words for a second, before coming to a realization that caused him to facepalm, "I could've just kept killing him over and over again without a plan, and he would have died in the same amount of time!"

"That's right! Your way was more fun though. And a lot more humiliating for Danzo."

Minato sighed, "Well, what happened is what happened. And now you're here, and I know from experience that there's nothing I can do about that. So; what's the purpose of this meeting, Choetsu?"

"Oh, lots of things, actually! But I'll let Konan-chan elaborate on the first and foremost one," said the blonde Rinnegan-user, before gesturing to the female cloaked figure on his left; the same one who had beaten him into submission just a couple minutes earlier, although it was obvious now that Choetsu had only allowed her to do so for his own sick pleasure.

'_There's that name again; Konan. So this is Konan, huh. And the name "Nagato" was also mentioned earlier_,' mused the Yondaime, '_Could they be related to the three Ame orphans Jiraiya-sensei always used to talk about when I was a genin_.'

Then, the cloaked figure removed the straw hat she was wearing, revealing exotic blue hair, cat-like amber eyes, pale skin, and a pierced chin. On her forehead was a slashed Rain _hitae-ate_.

'_It has to be her; she matches an adult version of the description Jiraiya-sensei had given her perfectly_. _Plus, she's wearing a headband with the Ame symbol on it_.'

"You…you're Konan, aren't you; one of Jiraiya-sensei's former students from the Hidden Rain. But…you're supposed to be dead. Jiraiya-sensei said you three were dead," said Minato out loud. Konan's brow rose in confusion, before realization dawned on her face.

'_Of course; I should probably have expected this reaction, especially considering who the Yondaime's teacher was_,' thought Konan, before speaking, "You are correct, Hokage-sama. I am one of the three orphans from Amegakure whom your sensei Jiraiya had trained during his time in our land, alongside my partner Nagato, who is now the leader of our village. And I am his right hand."

Minato's eyes widened, "Wait; if Nagato-san is the leader of Amegakure no Sato, then what happened to Hanzo?" The last time an outsider had any intel on the isolated Rain village, it was during the reign of Hanzo the Salamander, a powerful and ruthless shinobi on par with Konoha's _Densatsu no Sannin_. But that was over a decade ago; things must have changed drastically if this Konan was claiming her partner to be the new leader of Amegakure.

"Nagato killed him. It was during Ame's civil war, near the end of the Third Great Shinobi World War," explained Konan, stoic as ever.

The Fourth paled visibly at this, "Are you serious? That's…that's unbelievable. Hanzo was one of the most powerful shinobi in history. He fought all three of our Sannin at once during the Second War, and they would have died if he hadn't chosen to spare them. He was a monster of a shinobi, and you're saying that your partner Nagato killed him."

Konan nodded.

"It isn't as unbelievable as it sounds when you know more of the details," interjected Choetsu, "Hanzo had grown old and weak. He was out of practice, and his paranoia had gotten the better of him. And Nagato-chan had a trump card of his own…"

"…a Rinnegan, just like mine."

Minato bugged out again, shocked by the new reveal, '_Nagato has a Rinengan! Sensei didn't say anything about that_.'

"It's true. His is not as powerful as Choetsu-san's, of course, but Nagato is extremely formidable in his own right," said Konan, "In fact, his power is so great that he is worshipped as a deity in my village, known by the villagers as "Lord Pain". That's one of the reasons why I believe your Konohagakure will benefit immensely from an alliance with us."

"An alliance? Are…are you proposing what I think you're proposing?" inquired Minato, nearly dumbfounded.

Konan nodded, "Yes; the whole point of my presence here is to open up friendly diplomatic relations between my village and yours. I believe we both stand to benefit from such a union."

Minato looked at Choetsu, unsure. The blonde Rikudou responded to his grandfather's unspoken question with, "Why the hell are you looking at me for? As a warm-blooded, heterosexual, adult human male, your eyes should naturally gravitate towards the only individual in the room lacking a Y chromosome."

Minato returned with a look that clearly said, '_You know damn well why I'm looking at you_!' to which Choetsu responded with an audible sigh, before snapping his fingers and causing time itself to stop. Minato gaped as everything around them froze, including Konan and the other cloaked figure in the room.

He turned around and looked out the large glass windows behind his desk, only to find that his entire village and the world beyond had likewise become crystallized within a brief moment in time, prevented from reaching the next nanosecond by the very force of Choetsu's will and chakra.

"_Jikan no Kami_ (God of Time), a very useful jutsu," explained the Rikudou Hiraishin, "Now you're free to discuss with me whatever it is that you wanted to discuss with me before, but couldn't because of your unwillingness to offend our guest. Oh, and yes; I already know what you're going to say, of course, just humor me."

Minato rolled his eyes, before beginning, "Well, first of all; what have you been doing all this time that you were gone. I mean, what have you _really _been doing? I'm sure you weren't just playing diplomatic matchmaker with people from Jiraiya-sensei's past, who really shouldn't be alive."

Choetsu smirked, "You wound me with your accusations, Minato-_jiji_. I really was playing diplomatic matchmaker; I wasn't lying about that. Well, I wouldn't really call it diplomacy; more like bribery. Yep, that's a much better term for it."

"Bribery? Who were you bribing, and with what…dare I ask?"

"I bribed the self-proclaimed god of the Village Hidden in the Rain. You see; Nagato and Konan both share a dream that is normally impossible under normal circumstances, but…" began Choetsu.

"…but when it comes to you, nothing is ever impossible or normal. You offered to help them fulfill their dream, didn't you?" finished Minato.

"A very astute observation, my dearest grandfather."

"And in exchange for doing so, they would have to ally themselves with Konoha."

"Naturally."

"But can they be trusted?" questioned Minato with a hint of concern, "Amegakure no Sato has been highly isolated for quite some time, and we don't know if-…"

"Trust me, gramps; Nagato will not betray us. As long as I continue to support his ultimate goal, he'll have nothing but unwavering loyalty towards the Leaf. And as long as their beloved Lord Pain is our ally, all of Ame will follow," assured Cheotsu.

"Yeah, but that's another problem. What is his ultimate goal?" asked the Fourth, "What if it's something that Konoha cannot or should not support."

"That won't be a problem," replied the Kamikage, "Nagato's dream, which he inherited from his late friend Yahiko, and which Konan-chan also shares, is the same dream held by your sensei, the old perverted hermit."

Minato's eyes widened, "You mean…the dream of a genuine peace, and the end of the corrupt shinobi system. That's what Nagato wants?"

"Yes, and he's willing to do anything to achieve it; even allying with the village that has caused him so much suffering."

Minato's eyes narrowed in curiosity, "What do you mean? What has Konoha done to him?"

"It's a long story, one that I have no real right to tell you," explained the Eight Hokage, "Of course, that usually wouldn't be a problem for me, but right now I feel like you should really hear this from Nagato himself, when you finally meet him."

"And I would really like to," replied the Yellow Flash, "He is my fellow disciple after all. And I'm sure Jiraiya-sensei would love to hear about this. But, back to business; who's that other fellow that accompanied you here? He hasn't really talked much since the meeting started, and his identity has yet to be revealed."

"Oh, him; don't worry, that's just puppet boy…better known in the shinobi world as _Akasuna no Sasori_."

"WHAT! You mean Sasori of the Red Sands, an S-Rank missing-nin and one of the most wanted criminals in Sunagakure history! Are you insane; what the hell are you doing with a dangerous fugitive who another major hidden village could go to war against us for?"

"Geez, don't get your panties in a bunch, Ji-chan; Sasori's under my protection. Suna will _never_ discover his alliance with us. That's a promise."

"What do you mean, "alliance with us"? As far as I'm concern, he's only your ally. I can't associate Konoha with a _nuke-nin_ of his status. That would be like Iwagakure harboring Orochimaru without us knowing."

"Like I said earlier; Sasori is under my protection. And when you're under my protection, not even a fucking army of eight million gods from Heaven will be able to so much as lay a finger on your person. Trust me; I'll handle everything. You just have to understand that accepting Sasori as an agent of the village will have far more pros than cons."

"Pros? Like what?" inquired the Namikaze.

"Like what, you say," responded the Uzumaki, "Well, for one thing; do you have any idea what Sasori, Konan, and Nagato all have in common?"

"Uhh, no."

"I didn't think so," said Choetsu, "In my original timeline, all three of them were members of an organization called _Akatsuki_, which was composed almost entirely of S-Rank missing-nin. Officially, their leader was Nagato, but in reality, a man named Tobi who claimed to be the long-dead Uchiha Madara was the true, _de-facto_ head of Akatsuki."

"A man who claimed to be Madara? You don't mean to say…"

"That's right; the masked moron who released the Nine-Tails and fought you twelve years ago was to be the founder and leader of Akatsuki in my home universe, and he caused a lot of shit to go down. His ultimate goal was to collect all of the tailed beasts, and use their combined chakra to resurrect the Juubi. Then, he would become the Ten-Tail's _jinchuuriki_ and cast _Tsukuyomi_ on the moon, so he could place all mankind in a never-ending illusion of so-called peace."

A myriad of emotions appeared on the Yondaime's face after Choetsu's reveal, conflicting with each other and rendering his expression unreadable, "That's…that's completely…well, to be honest; I don't know what to think about that."

"On one hand, I'm horrified that someone would try and almost succeed at doing something like that, but on the other hand, I'm laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. I mean, _seriously_; his master plan is to hypnotize the world into becoming mindless zombies. That sounds like something out of the manga I used to read as a kid!"

"Yeah, Tobi's got a few screws loose, and for being a supposed genius he could be quite the moron when it comes to planning. Which makes it all the more tragic that his actions led to the death of yours and Kushina's alternate selves, and eventually caused the Fourth Great Shinobi World War."

Minato grit his teeth at this, before speaking, "That's why I've been working so hard to find him, these past twelve years. And when I do, I'm going to destroy him, and make sure this Tobi can't cause anymore suffering."

Choetsu looked sheepish, "Uhh, yeah, about that. I…kind of already did your job for you, Minato-jiji. I confronted him shortly after the Kyuubi attack and got him trapped in his own pocket dimension, which I sealed from the rest of reality. So don't even worry about it, hehehe!"

Minato looked absolutely downcast, "But…but I was so looking forward to…all my preparations…my contingency plans. The amount of pure _awesomeness_ that could have ensued, if only…" Choetsu promptly teleported next to ailing Hokage and began comforting him, patting the man on the shoulder while saying "There, there" in a scene that would look downright comedic to an outside viewer.

"Look, I hate missed moments of awesomeness as much as the next guy, but trust me, its better this way," reassured the transcendent being, "And think of the opportunity cost. Instead of saving Tobi for you, the author got to showcase my own abilities in what doubled as a crowning moment of awesomeness and a defining moment of character all the way back in Chapter 2, I think. It was Chapter 2 right? Geez; having a prologue at the beginning always has a tendency to mess up your perception of these kind of things."

Minato looked confused, "W-what the hell are you talking about, Choetsu? And why am I acting like this? Isn't this a little out of character for me based on how I was portrayed in the manga?"

Choetsu grinned, "Oh, don't worry about that! That's just my natural OOC-field and Fourth-Wall breaking aura. It's mostly used to facilitate odd scenes like this, and its completely harmless…well, except when its not. Which may occur much more than advertised."

Finding himself even more confused by Choetsu's explanation, Minato simply blinked before grimacing, "For the sake of my mental health, I think it'd be best if we move on…"

"Yup; that's pretty much what they all say," interjected Choetsu matter-of-factly.

"…so, back to what we were discussing earlier before our conversation got derailed, _again_," continued the Fourth Hokage, "These three individuals; Konan, Nagato, and Sasori, who were all members of this Akatsuki organization from your timeline. Why would I benefit from an alliance with them again? You mentioned something about pros and cons."

Choetsu gave the man a shit-eating grin, before answering, "Oh, that's simple. The pros of allying with them are, of course, that they will be operating on Konoha's side, rather than becoming members of Akatsuki, which I may remind you, is responsible for the Fourth Shinobi War in my timeline."

"There's a reason I choose these specific individuals to convert after all; out of all the Akatsuki members, these three are the only ones who can be considered well-intentioned extremist, rather than complete monsters. Well, there is one more actually, but because of divergences in this timeline, he already is a good guy. But that's a tale for another day."

"Okay then; so the only reason I could possibly benefit from accepting Sasori-san as a Leaf agent is because it's better than the alternative of having him as an Akatsuki member. Is that right?"

"No. There's also the intrinsic benefit of having an S-Rank ninja on your side, not to mention one who controls a vast intelligence network that rivals even Jiraiya's. Puppet boy can also help in the defense of the village in times of crisis. He is a Kage-level shinobi after all."

Minato sighed again, before acquiescing, "Okay, fine; you've convinced me. I can see now that the pros of having Sasori as an ally far outweigh the cons. I'll accept him as a covert agent of the Hidden Leaf. You just have to promise me, on your word, that this secret alliance that I'm agreeing to won't cause problems between Konoha and Suna. They're our only major allies after all."

"Kamikage's honor," declared Choetsu, while beaming and raising his right hand. This relieved the Yondaime somewhat, but it still wasn't enough to remove his unease. Rubbing his temples in mild frustration, Minato thought, '_I really hope this doesn't bite me in the ass later on_.'

"Alright, just a few more questions before you can resume the flow of time," said the Fire Shadow, "What's with the cloaks that you three are all wearing. They look official; like a uniform or something. And how much do they know about you? The _real _you; not that fake brother persona we made up."

"To answer your first question; the fancy cloaks symbolize our membership in the organization _Hoshikuzu_, which I am the founder and leader of in this timeline. Before you get all prissy about the possibility of another evil organization of super-powered ninja, don't worry; our goals are completely benevolent. The purpose of Hoshikuzu is basically achieving Jiraiya's dream of a genuine peace, through a three-step plan which I really need to brief you about in the near future," explained the Rikudou Hiraishin.

"And my second question?"

"Oh, they know a great deal about me, relatively speaking," continued the Hoshikuzu leader, "More than you, in fact. You actually have some catching up to do."

"So they know you're my grandson from the future?"

"Yes sir-y; so don't freak out if I call you gramps or Ji-chan in front of them."

"I'll keep that in mind," replied Minato, "Alright; I'm done. We can continue with the meeting now…"

And then time resumed, no longer hindered by Choetsu's jutsu.

* * *

><p>"Ahhhhh! There's nothing better after a grueling battle and a near-death experience than a nice, quick trip to a cheap brothel! That really hit the spot, ahahahahaha!" exclaimed a certain white-haired pervert while chuckling, as he walked out of the brothel he had been relaxing at.<p>

His battle with the mysterious armored angel had taken a lot out of him; not only was he forced to summon the _Ni Dai Sennin_ and use Sage Mode, but he ended up having to bring out his most powerful offensive jutsu, the Cho Oodama Rasengan. Not only that, but he wasn't even able to land a hit on his true target; that mechanical behemoth kept him occupied the entire time.

In retrospect, it probably wasn't a smart idea to attack an extremely powerful entity who so far hasn't displayed any hostility towards the Leaf, but in his defense, Jiraiya hadn't been planning to escalate the battle to such an extent. All of his actions after the iron demon had punched him out of the sky were purely out of self-defense. Yes, even the gigantic, mountain-shattering Rasengan. _Especially_ that Rasengan.

That implacable titan of steel and natural energy really scared the crap out of him, legendary Sannin or not.

Well, now that his mini-vacation was over, it was about high-time the _Gama-Sennin_ reported back to Konohagakure.

"Hmm, what's this?" inquired the Toad Sage, as a familiar sensation manifested upon the surface of his right palm. Jiraiya took out the hand from his pocket and examined it, only to find that the tracking seal he had slipped onto the mechanical angel's fingertip was flickering and sending a signal to its counterpart on his palm.

"According to my tracking seal, that armor I fought earlier is in the area," said Jiraiya as he stared at his palm," I better go check this out."

And with that, the Yondaime's sensei had disappeared with the characteristic flicker of _Shunshin no Jutsu_.

* * *

><p>Some say that dreams are a mirror of a person's soul; deep recesses of buried memories unraveled into distorted, chaotic visions that can appear as reality when viewed through the obscuring haze of unconsciousness. Like any mirror, dreams can be a reflection of what's truly inside; imperfectly mimicking, always one little detail off.<p>

And inside Namikaze Kurama, was the soul of an ancient, malevolent demon fox. Her dream tonight reflected that…

_"Neither of us have any sort of luck, do we?" said the woman with long tresses of crimson hair, and a face similar to Kurama's own sans her whisker marks, "You keep the world at bay…but I keep you at bay."_

_Flashes of a little girl, a mini-me of the woman from before appeared; scared, shivering, and unsure as she faced her destiny, before being comforted by the loving warmth of an old, wrinkled matriarch with her grayed hair styled in two buns. A diamond-shaped mark was etched on her forehead. _

_Then, a vision of that same old woman, younger now, her face free of wrinkles and her hair a radiant, youthful scarlet. Two slips of paper covered in elegant, flowing kanji draped down from her hair-buns. _

_"Stay tranquil, deep inside me," said the bun-haired woman, "If you use your power, only hatred will come from it."_

_The scene shifted, revealing the image of a man now. He had long, dark-brown hair, and was covered in a red suit of elaborate but functional battle armor. His face was covered in blood and bruises, indicating a fierce conflict of some sorts. _

_"Kyuubi; you're power is far too great. I cannot let you roam free any longer!"_

_A sinister, constricting feeling pervaded her dream as the current scene faded away, becoming replaced by the bird's eye view of a vast, mountainous location. Down below was a man, appearing to be the size of an ant from her lofty view point. The dream zoomed in on him, revealing long, spiky raven hair, a high-collared shirt, and a gunbai mounted on his back._

_But the most chilling aspect of that man was his eyes; crimson pools surrounding a dark pupil, orbited by three black tomoe that revolved rapidly around the center. Gazing into those infernal irises caused a putrid feeling to well up in Kurama, as if some dark force was invading her mind and violating its sanctity. It was disgusting, revolting, and above all horrifying._

_"Nine-Tails! You are merely a momentary life; a temporary existence of coalesced energy…energy that was once a single, ultimate form!" bellowed the hypnotizing, infernal man in a resounding voice, "An unstable force, lacking in intelligence or sapience, you require a guide to show you purpose…that guide is the Uchiha! OBEY!"_

_What happened next could not be comprehended, but it left the unmistakable mark of hatred on Kurama's psyche; it was like an infinite feeling of boundless hatred and contempt for that crimson-eyed man. The man who took her will away._

_There was another epileptic flash, shifting her consciousness elsewhere. When the chaotic visions finally bled together and coalesced into a coherent form, Kurama was faced with what could only be a mirror. Staring back at her was a pair of crimson, slit eyes like that of a fox; eyes filled with hatred, darkness, and pain. _

_"No matter how they say it, humans always say one thing_…"

"KURAMA!"

Huh.

Her eyes burst open as Kuruma's mind was harshly and abruptly ripped from her own dream and the depths of unconsciousness. The first image to assault her vision was the face of a boy, a raven-haired twelve-year old with dark, onyx eyes.

The look on his face and the gleam in his eyes denoted an expression of concern that was barely hidden under a façade of cool stoicism. But why was he concerned, and who was he? Kurama felt like she should know the answer to her own question, but her post-awakening haze muddled her mind. And then the visions came back, causing her to associate this raven boy with a similar, but older-looking individual from her dream.

"M-Madara?" said Kurama in a half-question, half-accusation, with a hint of an edge to her voice.

Sasuke blinked in confusion at his teammate's words, before replying, "What are you talking about? It's me…Sasuke."

Kurama had a brief epiphany, as her eyes widened. Of course; this was Uchiha Sasuke, her teammate, who she had rather mixed feelings about by the way. He wasn't some freaky, but terrifying man in red battle armor from an obscure dream she had.

Well, they did resemble each other somewhat, in a father-and-son sort of way, but "Madara", if that was his name, was a full-grown adult with haunting, crimson eyes, while Sasuke was her age, a twelve year old with normal looking, albeit pitch black eyes.

"S-Sasuke," whispered Kurama, weakly, "What's going on?"

"I couldn't sleep," answered the Uchiha, "You were keeping me awake with all that noise you were making. Was it a bad dream? A nightmare?"

Kurama briefly noted that it was still dark in the room, obviously not being morning yet, before she replied, "No, it wasn't a nightmare. Just…just a really, really weird dream."

She wasn't lying. Nightmares were dreams that terrified the dreamer. But her dream wasn't about terror; yes, some parts of it scared her, but the dominant emotion she felt during the dream was not fear, but _hatred_. Especially when she saw visions of that man, Madara. She didn't even know who he was, but she knew without a doubt that she hated him with all her being.

"Where's my brother?" inquired Kurama, after noticing the absence of her blonde sibling.

"Naruto left earlier during the night. I don't know where to. He was already gone by the time you woke me up with your noisy dreaming."

"Well I'm sorry that I have no conscious control over my body while I'm sleeping," retorted Kurama in a sassy tone. She didn't really want to cause an argument, but she was trying to cover up her concern over Naruto.

She was worried about her brother; especially after how he exploded against little Inari earlier at the dinner table. She honestly didn't know what that was about; her brother had never acted that way before. Hopefully he had just gone away for a midnight training session in order to vent.

Sasuke gave a huff in response before returning to his futon, without saying a word.

When her Uchiha teammate's breathing finally deepened after a while, Kurama gave a relieved sigh, before relaxing. She didn't know why, but she could never fall asleep at ease whenever she was in the presence of a conscious Sasuke.

For some reason, the raven boy always rubbed her the wrong way; even when they were kids. Now that she knew more about herself, the redhead wondered if it had something to do with her past life as a humongous monster fox; which was weird when she thought of it.

Even now, Kurama was still trying to get used to the fact that she used to be a living natural disaster. She didn't know if she would ever come to terms with that aspect of her past.

Nevertheless; within a half-hour, the Hokage's daughter was back in the land of blissful unconsciousness. Thankfully, the rest of her night would remain dreamless, and she would be able to get enough rest for the busy day she had tomorrow morning.

* * *

><p>"A rather unusual dream to be having, don't you think," said a voice, breaking the Rikudou Hiraishin out of his aimless reverie. Uzumaki Choetsu turned around from his position atop the Yondaime's monumental head, before coming face-to-face with his ancient companion, the Sage of the Six Paths.<p>

"Yeah, well, you have to keep in mind that Kurama-chan is the reincarnation of the goddamn _Kyuubi_; having weird dreams that spill over from her past life is just part of the whole shebang," said Choetsu, "Oh, and is this going be a frequent reoccurrence on your part; appearing out of the blue at random intervals in which you try to squeeze out an unnecessary explanation from me pertaining to recent events in this little storyline that I've concocted."

"Yes," was the Sage's terse reply.

"I was afraid you would say that."

"Well, you'll just have to deal with it," said the _Rikudou Sennin_, "I'm sorry to say that you're stuck with me, Choetsu."

At this, the Flying Thunder God entered a fit of disturbed giggling, starting off softly before it became a crescendo, gradually becoming louder and louder until the Kamikage's giggling had turned into full-blown maniacal laughter, causing his saner companion to sweatdrop.

"Stuck with you. I'm stuck with you? What is this nonsense? Hahahahahahaha! You don't seem to understand our predicament, Sennin-teme; I'm not stuck with you. No, no, no, no, no…_you're _stuck with _me_, bwahahahahahahahahahahahah!"

The founder of _ninjutsu_ just sweatdropped even harder, "You know, although that Rorschach reference was completely unnecessary, you do have a point. I am obviously the less crazy and far less flamboyant of us two, and it is my upmost misfortune to have to deal with your antics."

"You've known me for almost an eternity, and you're just realizing that now?"

"No. I realized it a long time ago; I just haven't found the opportunity to voice it until now."

"Or maybe you have, and neither of us remembers. An eternity of memories is a lot to shift through after all, especially for someone with my attention span. Ooh, is that a butterfly?"

"Case and point," mused the God of Shinobi, "Anyways, I should probably get on with why I came here, before I lose you any further. I don't know how you do it, Choetsu, but you somehow manage to derail every single conversation you're involved in."

"That's complete bullshit! I'll have you know that I was once involved in a conversation between a rock and a tree stump that stayed on topic the whole damn time! And it was all thanks to me! My job in that conversation, after all, was to make sure neither of the two speakers went off tangent, and in that respect I was absolutely successful!"

"…ANYWAYS!" interjected the old Sage, in a desperate attempt to halt any further derailment, "How did the meeting go?"

"Uhh, shouldn't you already know the answer to your own question?" inquired the blonde Rinnegan-user, "I mean, I wasn't hiding the meeting from your omniscience or anything. You should have been able to watch it from the Inner Realm."

"It's for the sake of the readers, Choetsu, for the sake of the readers…"

"Ahh, so that's what this is about. Well, if you must know; the meeting went grea-…" began Cheotsu, before being interrupted by a yellow flash. When the light faded, the Yondaime Hokage himself was now present atop the Hokage Mountain, standing on the same stone carved head as the Rikudou Hiraishin and the Rikudou Sennin.

Namikaze Minato looked at his time-travelling grandson, before turning his attention to the other man present; an old, sagely-looking individual with spiky, snow-white hair, a pair of grayish purple Rinnegan-eyes, and a _shakujo_ or monk staff in his right hand.

"Nice of you to stop by all of a sudden gramps," commented Choetsu with a smirk, "And goodness me; where are my manners. Minato-jiji, meet Sennin-teme. Sennin-teme, meet Minato-jiji."

"A pleasure," greeted the Sage in a concise fashion.

"Likewise," replied Minato, "I hope you don't find this rude of me, but; you wouldn't happen to be the legendary Sage of the Six Paths, would you?"

"That would be me, yes."

"Well then; it's a good thing I already meant Choetsu, or else I would probably be fainting out of shock right now. Then again, maybe its a bad thing that I'm so desensitized to unusual and supernatural phenomenon."

"Don't worry, I get that a lot."

"Not as much as me of course," added Choetsu, to which he got a look from his fellow Rikudou, "What?"

"Please refrain from talking for the rest of this conversation," practically ordered the Rikudou Sennin, "It's already been derailed enough. Now, where was I? Oh yes! Minato-san; how did your last appointment with Choetsu and his two hapless underlings go."

Minato blinked in confusion, surprised by the fact that the original _Shinobi no Kami_ had just asked of him a question, "Uhh, well, it…it went well, I guess. Choetsu convinced me to open up friendly diplomatic relations with Amegakure, and to accept Sasori-san as an ally of Konoha. He also informed me on more of his past, and explained this whole "Hoshikuzu" idea to me, although I'm not sure of whether I can readily approve of a vigilante, non-aligned organization of S-Rank shinobi who try to achieve peace through armed interventions…"

"Aww, come on! I told you we wouldn't bring any harm to the Leaf, since technically you are one of our benefactors!" interjected the Shodai Kamikage.

"Whatever, Choetsu; as I was saying," continued Minato, "although I can't approve any further action towards the organization of Hoshikuzu itself, at the moment, as of right now, the Hidden Leaf village will neither support nor hinder its operations."

"Well, it's better than nothing," Choetsu shrugged.

"Anyways, that's basically the whole meeting in a nutshell," finished the Yondaime, "But I'm still curious about some unanswered questions which Choetsu had refused to go into more depth about in the extremely abridged autobiography he gave me. Specifically, questions about a certain wife of his…"

The Rikudou Sennin grimaced at the mention of this, while the Rikudou Hiraishin's face remained unreadable. Minato instantly regretted his words, wondering if he had gone too far. But Choetsu didn't say anything, prompting the Sage to speak in his stead.

"That's probably something we should discuss at a later time, Minato-san. Or maybe not at all…"

"I understand, Rikudou-sama. My apologies," said the Hokage in return.

"It pains me," said Choetsu in mock hurt, "that you would refer to my pretentious bastard of a companion with such respect, when I don't even get an honorific to my name. What is the world coming to these days?"

"Oh, shut up; your grandfather obviously knows where respect is due. Unlike you; a True Rikudou who's even more powerful than I am you may be, but you're still a brat, Choetsu-gaki."

"Eh, I'd rather be a brat than have a humongous, multi-light year long pole shoved up my asshole. Come on, you seriously have to loosen up, Sennin-teme," retorted Choetsu, initiating another flare up of arguments between the two Rikudou.

Meanwhile, the Fourth Hokage simply watched their squabbling with incredulousness, '_They're both transcendent beings that have nigh-omnipotence and make gods seem like ants in comparison, yet they bicker like an old, married couple. This is unbelievable.'_

"Look, you two," interjected Minato, interrupting the quickly escalating quarrel, "I love a good, old-fashioned argument like the next guy, but I'm a busy man and I really would like to get to the point of why I'm here in the first place."

"See, I told you, Choetsu-gaki; you derail every conversation you're involved," said the Sage in a smug tone.

"Rock and tree stump, you bastard! Rock and tree stump!" was Choetsu's retort.

"Eh hem," Minato coughed, grabbing their attention once more, "I have another appointment in a few minutes, so I'll just make this quick. Although I agreed to a lot of what you proposed at our meeting today, Choetsu, that doesn't mean it's all finalized. I may be the Hokage, but I don't have absolute power. For a decision this important, the entire Hidden Leaf council must become involved."

"Yes, Ji-chan; I'm well aware of that," replied the Rikudou Hiraishin, "I was the Eight Hokage, and eventually Shodai Kamikage, remember. I know how politics work."

"Then you must know that everything you told me at the meeting must be presented again, this time in front of the entire council," said the village leader, "Minus all of the major secrets, of course, like who you really are and what the purpose of Hoshikuzu is."

"Yes, I know."

"Well then; I'm sorry it had to come to this, but you're gonna have to speak in front of the whole council sometime in the near future. There's nothing I can do about it, Choetsu," said the blonde Hokage, in an almost apologetic tone, "Now, as a fellow kage, I know how bad it can get with the councilmen sometimes, so I would completely understand if you tried to refuse. But I'm afraid that I can't let-…"

"What are you talking about?" interposed Choetsu, "You sound like you're feeling sorry for me. I wouldn't feel sorry for me, if I were you. You should worry about the council, and the fact that _they_ have to deal with _me_, not the other way around."

"W-What do you mean?"

"Let's just say I have a _very_ creative approach to dealing with annoying council members, and leave it at that," stated Choetsu with a devilish grin. Minato couldn't help but shiver at his expression.

"That one elder, Shimura Danzo is dead now, correct?" half-stated, half-inquired the Rikudou Sennin.

"Uhh, yes, yes he is; I just had him killed recently, in fact," replied Minato in a confused tone. He didn't know what the Sage was getting at.

"That's too bad. It would've been pretty entertaining to see how that man would react to Choetsu and his antics."

"I…I'm sure it would have been. Anyways, I should probably go now. But before I leave; do you have any idea where you'll be staying in the village, Choetsu? I could have something prepared for you, like I did for your two companions…"

"Don't sweat it, gramps, I got it covered," said the Rikudou Hiraishin, with a smirk that left Minato with an unexplainable feeling of dread.

"I'll keep that in mind," responded the Yondaime, before leaving with Hiraishin.

"And then there were two," stated Choetsu in monotone.

"Yeah well, I should probably get going as well…" said the other Rinnegan-bearer.

"About time, Sennin-…"

"…but not before I ask you one last question."

"Fuck."

"Language, Choetsu-gaki."

"I don't give a shit, Sennin-teme. Now what did you wanna ask me, so I can get this over with."

"It's nothing major, really. I was just wondering about a certain plot point," said the Sage of the Six Paths, "In this timeline, your father Naruto has yet to declare any desire to become Hokage whatsoever."

"What is that, like, a requirement or something?"

"Not necessarily. It's just that most universes involving Naruto have him doing so as a default, or at least mention it, with the occasional exception of "evil/dark" Naruto iterations in which your father actively hates Konoha. I just found it odd that this version of Naruto hasn't done so at all, even though your father from our original timeline has already become Rokudaime."

"Well, he did say something along the lines of "becoming a bigger badass than his father" over a dozen chapters ago. Does that count?"

"Not really. He doesn't have to become Hokage to surpass the Fourth."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll have to look into this," said Choetsu, "I mean, what is my father without his childhood and pre-adolescent obsession with becoming Hokage. I think I already may have an idea forming, actually."

"What? What are you planning, gaki?"

"Oh, you'll see. Let's just say it has something to do with the dream theme this chapter has got going on."

"Dream theme?"

"Kurama."

"Oh yeah."

"…"

"…"

Cue the awkward silence, as both Rikudou realized they had nothing left to say.

"Well, I'm done here," announced the Sage, "I should probably be on my way now."

"Yeah, you go do that."

And then the Rikudou Sennin vanished without a trace, returning to the Inner Realm and leaving his fellow Rikudou alone on top of the Fourth Hokage's head.

* * *

><p>Konan and Sasori wandered aimlessly through the streets of Konohagakure, while remaining unmindful of the strange looks that they were receiving, as a result of their eye-catching Hoshikuzu cloaks and concealing straw hats.<p>

Choetsu had dismissed them as soon as the meeting with the Hokage had ended, allowing them to go off on their own tour of the village where they would be staying for the next few weeks. It didn't take long for the duo of S-Rank shinobi to realize that they had absolutely nothing to do.

"Sasori-san," began Konan, breaking the silence that had sprung up between them while they walked around the village, "Do you have anything in mind yet? Or are we just going to meander about aimlessly for the rest of the day."

"Why don't we just stay at the residence that the Hokage provided for us?" asked the Suna missing-nin.

"Well, according to him, it won't be fully prepared for a couple more hours, so we have time to kill," answered Konan.

Sasori sighed, "Well, I guess I could just say I'm hungry, and that we should grab a bite to eat, but I'm a puppet, meaning that would be nothing but a blatant lie."

"No, no; that's not too bad of an idea actually," replied Konan, "I mean I know _you_ can't eat, but I can. And I'm starting to feel a little hungry. So maybe we should just grab a bite to eat."

"Well, it's up to you. I thought I saw a ramen stand somewhere around here."

"It's settled then," stated the S-Rank angel, "Let's get some ramen."

And so the two Hoshikuzu members doubled back to where Sasori had spotted a ramen stand, before finding themselves in front of a humble eating establishment called Ichiraku's. Upon entering, they realized that the restaurant, although not quite packed, had its fair share of customers. Thankfully, there were two seats left open at the bar.

As soon as the pair had sat down, an old man with a chef's outfit walked up to them while holding a notepad and pen, before asking, "Welcome to Ichiraku's Ramen. I'm Teuchi. What can I get for you?"

"I don't have ramen very often," said Konan, while sifting through the menu, "So I'm not sure what's really good here. Do you have any suggestions, Teuchi-san?"

"Well, for a first time customer here at Ichiraku's, I would highly suggest a bowl of Miso pork ramen."

"I'll have that then."

"Alright then; two bowls of Miso pork ramen, coming right-…"

"Uhh, just one bowl, please," interjected Sasori, "I won't be having any."

"Oh, well, suit yourself then sir. One bowl of Miso pork ramen it is," stated Teuchi, while writing down Konan's order. When he was finished, the ramen chef disappeared into the kitchen to inform his daughter, Ayame, of the new order, leaving the two customers to their own devices.

"So," started Konan, addressing her fellow Hoshikuzu member, "How do you think that meeting with the Hokage went?"

"The meeting? I thought it went about as well as it could have gone," replied the puppet master in a whisper, in order to protect their conversation from potential eavesdroppers, "I had this feeling that the Hokage acquiesced far too easily though."

"What do you mean?"

"When you first gave the Yondaime your proposal of an alliance, he seemed tense and had a feeling of unease to him, like he was unsure, or even a little suspicious."

"Well of course," replied the blue-haired woman, "He's a politician; when someone gives you a proposal of alliance out of the blue like that, it shouldn't be your first instinct to suddenly trust them and take all of their words at face value. He was just being a good leader; cautious and alert. I don't see how that's unusual."

"It's not. What's really unusual, though, is how the Hokage became more relaxed just a few moments later; as if he had suddenly come to terms with the proposal and accepted it. Did you notice that?"

"Hmm; as a matter of fact…I did. That is rather odd. Do you think…?"

"That Choetsu-sama had a hand in it. I'm almost sure of it. There's no way that the Hokage could have suddenly accepted your alliance proposal, no questions asked, all of sudden like that; especially when he had been so suspicious just a few moments prior."

"And what's even stranger, is that he didn't even question my role in the deal. Before the meeting, I though the most difficult part would be getting the Hokage to accept an infamous missing-nin and criminal like me, but he didn't even mention it. And I know he knew who I was. I could read it from his body language."

"This may seem rather farfetched out of context, but this is Choetsu after all," said Konan, "Do you think he could have brainwashed the Hokage into accepting the deal? Maybe he used some type of extremely subtle and powerful _genjutsu_."

"It's a possibility," replied the criminal puppeteer, "Like you said; this is Choetsu-sama we're talking about. The sheer extent of his abilities is practically infinite."

"But this is his own grandfather. Do you think he would really do that? Brainwash him, I mean."

"I'm not sure, but I wouldn't really put it past him. When it comes to the Rikudou Hiraishin, no possibility should be disregarded."

"Hey, Sasori; do you…do you think that maybe…maybe Choetsu is doing the same to us?" suggested Konan, "Maybe we're being controlled too; just pawns in a little game that Choetsu made up to alleviate his own boredom. I mean, a month ago, if you had told me that I would be in the situation I am in right now, I would have definitely scoffed at the idea."

"Didn't he say as much during our first Hoshikuzu meeting? And he justified it, saying something along the lines of "a man can read a book and still care about the characters inside of it."

"I know what he said. What I'm questioning is the "caring" part. Does he really care about us, or is he just using us as brainwashed pieces that he can just move around on some sort of cosmic _shogi_ board to further his agenda. And can we even trust anything he says at all, for that matter. What if he was just lying to us about _everything _this whole time? His identity, his backstory, and his goals; what if they were nothing but a front. I mean, he certainly has the power to pull something like that off."

"Who knows?" said Sasori, "With all due respect, Konan; after all this time, does it even really matter anymore. And furthermore; even if you were right about all this…what could we do? What could we possibly do in the face of such overwhelming power like that which Choetsu wields? Comparing him to a god is like comparing a god to an ant. No, not even that analogy does him justice."

"I don't know, Sasori, I just don't know," replied Konan with a resigned tone, "Maybe its best not to think about it."

The conversation grew quiet after that, as Konan simply waited for her meal to arrive. When the bowl of noodles finally came, the S-Rank angel said a brief "_Itadakimasu_" before breaking out the chopsticks and digging in.

That's when, like the opening to a cliché joke, ANBU Commander Uchiha Itachi walked into the bar (or ramen stand in this case).

* * *

><p>When Hoshino Daisuke returned to his team, they were already waiting for him.<p>

"Did you get rid of that finger like I told you to, Daisuke-kun?" asked Team 6's jonin-sensei, Uchiha Yosho.

"Sure thing, sensei," Daisuke lied. Of course, that strange metal finger he had found was still carefully pocketed in his left pants pocket, against the wishes of his instructor. But they didn't need to know that.

"Good. Now that that's taken care of, it's time we be on our way," said Yosho, "we have a deadline to deliver our package, after all." And with that, Team 6 had moved on, continuing with their C-Rank mission.

As they walked along the narrow dirt path leading to their destination, Yosho took to the rear, trailing behind his students, while Yamada Jiro, the most talented of the three _genin_, took point. Sakura kept the mission scroll, while she and Daisuke walked alongside each other in the middle.

"Hey, Daisuke," said Sakura in an almost whisper, as she addressed her fellow teammate, "Sorry about, um, you know…earlier."

Daisuke raised an eyebrow at this, partly confused about what Sakura was talking about and partly confused that she was apologizing at all, "What do you mean, Sakura?"

"You know. Me getting mad at you, calling you an idiot, and almost punching you in the face earlier, for no good reason," said the cherry blossom, "I wanted to apologize to you about that."

"Really? Are you serious?" asked Daisuke, perplexed by Sakura's sudden mood change, "What brought this about all of a sudden?"

Sakura gave him a look, before speaking, "It was Yosho-sensei. He had a little talk with me while you were away disposing of that weird finger. He…he doesn't like us fighting."

"So you're just apologizing because sensei told you too?" accused Daisuke.

"No! That's…that's not why! He just helped me see how I was in the wrong. That's all. I really am sorry, Daisuke."

"Alrighty then; apology accepted, Sakura-chan!" exclaimed Daisuke with a shit-eating grin, "You didn't really have to say sorry though. It's not like I'm already used to you beating the crap out of you every so often."

"But that's the thing; you shouldn't be used to something like that! I need to learn how to control my temper better. And I shouldn't take my frustrations with Sasuke-kun out on you."

"Frustrations with Sasuke?"

"Yeah; you know about my big crush on him, right," said Sakura with a fierce blush on her face.

"Yeah, of course. Everybody knows; you weren't exactly hiding it."

"That's right, I wasn't. I've been completely forward about it this whole time. I've been trying to woo that boy practically since I met him, and so far, he hasn't responded to any of my advances, no matter how hard I tried."

"Aww, don't be like that, Sakura," said Daisuke, "I'm sure things will work out with you and Sasuke someday. And if not, then maybe he just isn't the guy for you. There are plenty of other fish in the sea."

"Like you?" replied Sakura with a smirk that contrasted against her deepening blush.

Daisuke was a little caught off-guard, "Y-Yeah, l-like…like me."

"You know," continued the kunoichi, "You didn't really have to kiss me back then. Seriously, what was that all about?"

"Come on! You know you loved it!" cheered Daisuke exuberantly.

Sakura rolled her eyes, "As if, Daisuke-baka!"

"Hey, what happened to playing nice?"

"I am playing nice! Haven't you noticed how I haven't socked you in the face yet? And besides; don't think I'm gonna have some kind of spontaneous personality change just cause we had a heart-to-heart-…" Whatever Sakura was about to say, was interrupted mid-sentence when a pair of deathly pale hands reached out from underground and grabbed their third teammate, Jiro, by his ankles.

Then, in a blink of an eye, the two hands dragged the hapless Jiro beneath the Earth before anyone could react.

It only got worse, when just a few seconds later, Jiro's lifeless body erupted from the ground…suspended in mid-air by a sword impaled through his bloody chest.

Sakura screamed.

TBC

A.N. And we're done. Cookie goes to whoever figures out who is attacking Team 6. Trust me, it's not that hard to figure out. Please read and review, review, review, people! Seriously, I update faster the more reviews I get!


	26. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I have bad news for you all. Apparently, because writing a story with a character named Naruto is considered plagarism, and therefore, I can no longer continue on with It's Rikudou Hiraishin to You! So, effective immediately, I am-...wait, what's this about being allowed to write fanfics if a disclaimer is included. Why the hell didn't anyone tell me about this before! Could've saved me thirty seconds. And of course I don't own Naruto!

Author's Note: Sorry for another late chapter, but I think with how busy I've been lately doing summer activities, I'm probably going to have to cut my update time to once every two weeks, instead of once a week. And I'm starting college soon, so my update time will get even worse. Sorry guys. I'll make it up to you all someday. I don't know how, but I will. Anyways, please enjoy this chapter; although short, it's a nice bridge to the finale of the Wave arc, which will begin next chapter.

Chapter 25: Dream of a Hokage's Future

Haruno Sakura watched on, helpless and horrified, as her teammate of a few weeks dangled in the air, with a sword impaled through his bleeding chest. She had already done her fair share of screaming; now she was just speechless, unable to comprehend the fact before her; the fact that Yamada Jiro was now dead.

How could this be? Jiro was just twelve-years old like herself; it was far too early to be his time already. It just wasn't right! Jiro had done absolutely nothing to deserve this! He was rather reserved, not very sociable, and frankly, Sakura hadn't really taken notice of him during their academy years. But he was a very polite and kind person who gave respect to everyone, even those who didn't really deserve it, and he was never one to start a conflict when it was unnecessary.

What in the world did he do to warrant such a tragic and untimely death? It was completely wrong and unfair!

"Sakura, Daisuke, stay close to me. I'll protect you," reassured their _jonin_ sensei, Uchiha Yosho, with a demeanor of calm collectedness, even though they both knew he was breaking inside. He had just lost a precious student, after all.

"I would worry more about your self than those two brats of yours, Uchiha," said a voice from the hole from which the sword that had taken Jiro's life had emerged from. It was slimy and sinister, and it reminded Sakura eerily of snakes. The next thing she knew, the sword impaling Jiro retracted back into its hole, causing Jiro's body to plop helplessly to the ground.

Then, a humanoid figure emerged from the ground, slowly climbing into view. He had long, black hair that looked slick and greasy, even from far away. His skin was deathly pale, almost like a ghost. The man's eyes were a sinister yellow, with cat-like slits for pupils. And he had on an unusual, yellow-dominated outfit with a giant purple knotted ribbon made out of rope wrapped around his waist.

Sakura knew who this was; this man had been the subject of one of Iruka-sensei's lessons, and Sakura always paid attention to those. He was an infamous, S-Rank criminal from Konoha; the traitorous Snake Sannin Orochimaru. They were doomed.

After seeing who their enemy was, Yosho had a momentary lapse into shock and panic, before quickly composing himself and forming an infamous cross seal. One pop of smoke later, and a single _kage bunshin_ had formed next to the original.

The shadow clone charged Orochimaru, while Yosho stood back and flashed through another set of seals. "_Earth Release: Earth Dome_!" exclaimed the jonin, before slamming his palms against the ground. Seconds later, a dome of reinforced rock formed around Yosho and his two students.

'_Oh ho; so you plan on hiding in that dome while you're clone holds me off, huh_,' mused the snake summoner while hopping backwards to avoid a slash from the clone's kunai.

Yosho's bunshin quickly followed that up by flickering to a nearby tree, releasing a kunai from its hand, and then flickering again back to the ground a few meters behind its foe.

Orochimaru evaded the thrown kunai with a simple sidestep, but was forced to leap away in order to escape the explosion that resulted from the attached tag. While he was in mid-air, The doppelganger used another _shunshin_ to intercept him before delivering a solid punch to his face, sending the Sandaime's treacherous student careening towards the Earth.

He impacted with great force, kicking up large amounts of debris. Yosho's shadow clone capitulated on this, completing another set of seals before declaring, "_Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu_ (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique)!" and releasing a massive spherical inferno of flaming chakra from its mouth.

The Grand Fireball struck where Orochimaru had landed, causing a raging firestorm to erupt on impact. When the kage bunshin landed on its feet, it immediately began another series of hand seals, refusing to give the legendary shinobi any chance to retaliate.

"_Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu_ (Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique)!" exclaimed the shadow clone as it fired an enormous gout of flames from its mouth. The flames rushed forward, taking a shape that loosely resembled a charging dragon. Uchiha Yosho had enough experience and skill with this particular technique that he could perform it without a conductor, like ninja wire.

A few seconds later, the C-Rank _ninjutsu_ engulfed Orochimaru's position, roasting the snake-like man before incinerating the entire area surrounding him.

Yosho's replica held in a sigh of relief, knowing full well that the battle was not over yet. It held its kunai with a tight grip while watching the smoke cloud closely with the Sharingan. It didn't take long for Orochimaru's slightly ashen but otherwise completely unscratched and unmarred figure to walk out of the smokescreen, bearing a deeply smug smirk on his pale face.

"My turn," was all the Snake Sannin said before literally _vomiting _a longsword from his mouth. The blade extended suddenly, faster than Yosho's clone could react. The next thing it knew, the kage bunshin had been run through with Orochimaru's legendary _Kusanagi_, causing it to dispel immediately.

With the shadow clone dealt with, Orochimaru could now focus on the original. He retracted his Kusanagi back into his mouth, before spitting the whole entire sword out, that way he could catch the hilt. Now wielding the famed bladed in his hands, Orochimaru began to approach the earthen dome that hid Yosho and his two students.

When he reached it, the Leaf traitor immediately plunged his Kusanagi into the dome, piercing its hardened defense easily. Then he extended the blade, causing the tip to exit out the other end.

Next, he twisted his magical longsword so that the edge faced downwards, that way he could carve a vertical line down to the bottom, before making a 360˚ slash horizontally, slicing the entire top portion of the dome away…and revealing no one to be inside it.

Orochimaru raised his eyebrows in mild confusion for a moment, before noticing a slight disturbance to the ground that only a skilled user of _Doton _like himself could notice.

"So you used a tunneling jutsu to escape, huh. A clever ruse that would have fooled many," said the former Konoha-nin, "but I'm a Sannin, and you made the grievous mistake of believing yourself the only one well-versed in Doton ninjutsu."

* * *

><p>Jiraiya of the Sannin, Toad Sage and spymaster of Konohagakure no Sato, was swiftly hopping through the branches of a dense, tree-laden forest towards his target, the tracking seal that he had discreetly placed on the mechanical angel he had fought before with Sage Mode, when a certain, familiar sensation made itself known to his body.<p>

'_This feeling; could it be_,' thought the super pervert, '_Orochimaru_!'

* * *

><p>Somewhere a decent distance away from the location in which Orochimaru had fought Yosho's shadow clone, the real Yosho emerged from underground, climbing up from a hole in the Earth. When he was out and finally above ground, Yosho reached back into the hole and helped his two remaining students out of the hole.<p>

When Sakura and Daisuke were out of the hole, both _genin_ were shivering in horror, as a result of having witnessed Jiro die a terrible death right in front of their eyes, and in fear for their own lives due to the dangerous presence of the snake-like man who had killed him. The only hope they had rested with their jonin-sensei; they could only count on him to get them out of this situation alive.

But he had his own doubts. Yosho knew he couldn't take on one of the _Densatsu no Sannin_ and live. No; it would take dozens of jonin his level to even have a chance of taking on any of the Sannin. A direct confrontation was hopeless and futile. His only shot was escape, and he wasn't so sure about that either.

But if he could sacrifice his own life to buy his charges with enough time to escape, then he would do it in a heartbeat.

Right now, the most pressing matter was calming these genin down. He needed Sakura and Daisuke to get their act together, if anything he planned was going to work.

And so, the Uchiha clansmen grabbed his two students in a deep, fatherly hug, shocking them momentarily but then causing them to calm down a bit, "Easy, easy; I know what you guys just saw was…traumatic, but you can't just break down. Not yet. Jiro-kun…Jiro is gone now. I'm not going to sugarcoat that. You two are shinobi."

"And because you're shinobi, I ask you; please, endure for a little bit longer. As soon as we're home free, then you have my permission to break down in tears for Jiro-kun's untimely passing. But until then…we need to stay alive. Please, have faith in me…believe in me. Your sensei will get you through this. I will protect you both, even if it costs me my own life!" finished Yosho passionately, even though he knew, deep down, that he was lying through his teeth. But the two genin seem to buy it, as their shivering stopped, and their bodies seemed less tense.

That's when Orochimaru chose to strike.

* * *

><p>One moment, Namikaze Kushina was carefully examining the compatibility of two seal components inside her husband's <em>fuinjutsu<em> workshop, with the help of the A.I. Rei, when the next, she was screaming her head off when a pair of strong arms suddenly wrapped around her mid-section.

"Calm down, Kushina! It's just me!" said a voice from behind her; a familiar voice. It didn't long for Kushina to realize that the man behind her was none other than her husband, the Fourth Hokage. She promptly calmed herself, now knowing that she wasn't being assailed in her own home.

"S-sorry, Minato," apologized the Yondaime's wife, "You know how I react sometimes when I'm really focused and you sneak up on me with your _Hiraishin_ like that."

"Yeah, my bad. I probably should have knocked. Oh, and hello to you too, Rei-chan," said the blonde seal master, finally noticing the translucent, holographic figure of his semi-sentient invention, "Your avatar really turned out well, didn't it."

"Aww, thank you Minato-kun," swooned Rei with a holographic blush, causing a vein to pop in Kushina's temple, "And of course, you look as handsome as eve-…" Before Rei could finish complimenting her mistress's husband, Kushina swiftly deactivated the seal projecting Rei's existence, leaving herself alone with her lover.

"Umm, Kushina; why…why did you do that to Rei-chan? Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, of course not!" exclaimed the mother of two in response, before unraveling the arms around her waist so she could turn around and wrap her own arms around Minato's neck, "I just want some alone time with my hubby, that's all. Is there something wrong with that?"

"I guess not. Knowing you; this is probably just you're way of saying "I miss you"."

Kushina giggled in response, before speaking, "So, how was that meeting of yours? I know how much you love to suck up to foreign dignities."

"Heh, more like foreign dignities suck up to me."

"Of course, your reputation precedes you, my legendary husband," snarked Kushina, "But nevermind that. Tell me all about it."

"Well, I'm going to open up friendly diplomatic relations with Amegakure no Sato, which means we might enter in an alliance with them in the near future, depending on what the council has to say," replied Minato, "And now an S-Rank missing-nin from Suna is going to enter into the service of our village, along with the massive intelligence network he has under his control. All in a days work, I guess."

"What! How did that happen? Amegakure, I mean. They've been isolated for over a decade, and now they want an alliance with us?" said Kushina incredulously, "And why in the world would you agree to harbor a dangerous _nuke-nin_ from the Hidden Sand? That's just stupid! What if the Sand find out about it? They could go to war with us over something like this!"

"Easy there, Kushina. Please don't get riled up over this. Trust me; I know what I'm doing. Mostly. In fact, I can explain this entire crazy situation in just four words," said the Yondaime, "Uzumaki Choetsu is back."

Kushina had the audacity to gape in shocked silence, before finally finding the voice to speak, "We're all doomed, aren't we."

"Who knows," replied Minato, "Maybe some good will come of this, or maybe not. I'm strongly hoping it's the former. At the end of the day though; Choetsu _is_ family, alternate timeline or not. That's why we need to believe in him, trust in him, stand by him, no matter how much our gut instinct screams at us to run as far away as possible."

"You were always one for blind faith, Minato."

"Of course; how else do you think I could get someone as stubborn and hardheaded as you to love me," said Minato with a cheeky grin, "By the way; how was it? Examining the late Uchiha Kagami's fuinjutsu scroll, I mean. Anything good I should know about?"

Now it was Kushina's turn to grin, "Oh, you're in for a treat, my dearest husband."

* * *

><p>"<em>Sen'eijashu<em> (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)!" exclaimed Orochimaru as he struck from beneath the hole that Yosho had made with his Doton technique. The summoned serpents rapidly emerged from the hole before wrapping around Sakura's and Daisuke's bodies and ripping them from their sensei's embrace.

The Uchiha was quick to react, opening immediately with _Shunshin no Jutsu_, turning himself into a flurry of flickering movements. A millisecond later, Yosho's two remaining genin were freed and the snakes that had captured them were all decapitated. Now, Yosho was leaning over a few feet away, holding both his students tightly in his arms.

Orochimaru's decapitated snake hands rushed back into the hole, before the man himself shunshin-ed out into the open, standing on the other side of the hole from Team 6. Yosho turned around to face him, before setting his shell shocked students back on the ground.

"Very impressive, Uchiha. Not many shinobi can use the Body Flicker Technique in combat like that, especially with such speed as your self. You remind me of _Shunshin no Shisui_."

"Of course, _he was my son_, after all," Yosho replied.

Orochimaru's brow rose in pique interest, "Oh ho; I wasn't aware of that. That makes things much more…_interesting_. I can already tell, however, that Shisui-kun has long surpassed his own father. Your speed is not nearly as great as his was, and your prowess for _genjutsu_ obviously pales in comparison to the most talented illusionist in Uchiha clan history."

Yosho smirked, "You shouldn't make assumptions like that so quickly."

And then Orochimaru's surroundings suddenly shifted, and the next thing the Snake Sannin knew, he was being crushed on the ocean floor by kilometers upon kilometers of underwater pressure. Yosho stood in front of him, completely unperturbed by the immense water pressure.

"Welcome to my illusion, _Magen: Ryugu-Jo_. Still think my genjutsu lacks prowess?" After letting the question sink in for a short while, Yosho turned around and began walking away from the trapped Sannin.

Although the question had been rhetorical, Orochimaru decided to answer it anyways, under his breath.

"Yes."

Now it was his turn to smirk, when the walking Yosho was stopped in his tracks as a piece of the bedrock rose from the sea floor, before cocooning around Yosho's body, only leaving his head exposed. Yosho immediately found that he could not move at all, let alone escape the earthen prison, no matter how much he struggle.

Then, Yosho felt a sinister force creep into his body. If he could describe the sensation, it would be like the feeling of a boa constrictor wrapping itself around your body and _squeezing_; not nearly enough to kill you, but just enough to cause pain and discomfort. And he knew without a doubt that this malevolent aura was being emitted from Orochimaru.

If Yosho had been a Hyuuga and could see behind him, he would have noticed Orochimaru rising from his prone position on the ground, seemingly ignoring the pressure that had been crushing him just moments ago. He would also have noticed the Leaf traitor slink slowly towards him from behind, licking his lips as he did so.

He did notice it, however, when the treacherous student of the Third Hokage placed his slimy, ghostly pale hands on Yosho's face, and began "playing", for a lack of a better term, with the Uchiha's head, turning it this way and that and eliciting threatening growls from Yosho's throat.

"W-what did you do?" asked the struggling Uchiha.

"What did I do, you ask. It's all really simple," answered Orochimaru, "I just took your puny little illusion, and turned it in on itself. It was practically child's play for me. Like I said, you're no match for Uchiha Shisui."

"I won't let you hurt my students!"

"I'm afraid that there's not much you can do about that," said the Snake Sannin with a smirk, before sinking his snake-like fangs into Yosho's neck. Team 6's jonin-sensei hollered in agony as a dose of highly-effective poison was injected into his bloodstream via Orochimaru's fangs.

"Don't worry, Yosho-kun; that was just some customized venom I developed myself. It won't kill you, honestly, but it should knock you out cold. Right about…_now_."

Just as Orochimaru had said, Yosho's eyes drooped immediately before shutting close, signaling the man's departure from the realm of consciousness. His head fell forward slightly, no longer held upright by the voluntary exertions of his neck muscles, while his breathing deepened. Any onlooker would say that Yosho was in a deep sleep.

"Now then," muttered Orochimaru as the genjutsu around them faded away, causing Yosho's body to fall completely to the ground as it was no longer held up by the phantom forces within the illusion. The Snake Sannin bit his thumb, drawing blood, before flashing through a set of seals and then slamming his palm against the ground while exclaiming, "_Kushiyose no Jutsu_!"

From his palm blossomed an array of characters that released a large cloud of smoke. From the cloud emerged a green-scaled serpent the size of a house, clearly one of Orochimaru's infamous snake summons. Turning towards his summon, Orochimaru commanded, "Take Yosho-kun here into your mouth, but do not swallow him. I want his body mostly intact, so that when I get back to my headquarters I can just summon you to retrieve it."

The semi-sentient reptile did as its master commanded, prompting the praise of "Good boy" from its summoner. After which, Orochimaru then slammed his palm against the snake's hide again, dispelling the Summoning Technique and sending the serpent back to the Animal Realm.

His job now finished, the Third Hokage's former student then turned towards the two remaining members of Team 6, eyeing them with disturbing glee.

Neither Sakura nor Daisuke had moved from their spots; at first due to the false hope they had been given when they watched their sensei seemingly defeat the Sannin with one of his Sharingan genjutsu, only for Orochimaru to immediately turn the tides. When that had happened, the two genin had been too frozen by fear and the crushing presence of Orochimaru's killing intent to do anything, not even run away.

Orochimaru licked his lips in a sinister manner, as he contemplated what his next action would be "I wonder; what ever shall I do with the two of you?"

* * *

><p>"Ah, Itachi-san; back for more?" inquired Ichiraku Teuchi as he watched the Konoha ANBU Commander walk into his stand, "Do I have a new patron on my hands."<p>

"That's might just be a possibility, Teuchi-san. But no, I'm just here to pay you back for earlier," answered the Uchiha after he took a seat at the bar, "About that; I'm terribly sorry about leaving before I could pay. Hokage-sama had to whisk me away all of sudden because of some…business we needed to attend to."

"Eh, don't worry about that. I'm sure whatever you were doing was very important to the village. In fact, I'm letting you count that last bowl as on the house."

"I'm afraid I can't accept that. I mean, I came here for the sole purpose of repaying you…"

"No, no, I insist. But if you must pay me, why don't you just buy another bowl. I'm sure that small order from before wasn't enough to sate you for the day."

Itachi didn't reply at first, mulling it over a bit in his mind for at least a minute, before finally speaking, "I guess that would be alright. I have time for a quick meal right now."

"Excellent! Same as before, or would you like to try something new?"

"Just the same, for now."

"Alright then, I'll have your order made as soon as possible," said Teuchi, before leaving the prodigy to himself so he could prepare the order. Now that he was left to his own devices, Itachi took the time to observe the other customers in the restaurant; more specifically, the two glaringly suspicious individuals he noticed immediately upon entering.

They were sitting right next to him, and wearing beautiful but oversized cloaks that seemed to invoke the feeling of a night sky. He had never seen designs like these before, but they immediately caught his eye. Besides the cloaks, these two individuals were wearing concealing straw hats with white veils flowing down from the edges, which shrouded most of their faces in shadow.

While he was waiting for his meal, Itachi decided to run an analysis in his mind on the two suspicious cloaked figures sitting next to him.

'_There's a possibility that the cloak is a uniform, considering both of them are wearing it. But I've never seen this design before, so I'm not sure who or what they represent. They can't be from Konoha, as I've never seen them before, unless Hokage-sama has a secret unit I'm not aware of. Or maybe they're from ROOT. But I doubt it. Doesn't seem like their style.'_

_'They can't be civilians; I can tell from their mannerisms that they have to be trained shinobi. Not only that, but I can sense the subtle yet suppressed presence of a powerful chakra reserve emitting from both of them. They could be from another village, but why would foreign shinobi dress in such attention-grabbing attire. Maybe they're mercenaries?'_

_'I can tell that the one sitting closest to me, on the left, is a woman based on her mannerisms and the way she holds herself as she eats. The other one, however, is harder to grasp. For now, I'll just refer to him or her as a male.' _

'_He hasn't ordered anything, which is somewhat suspicious since this is a restaurant after all. But not only is he not eating, he's also not moving either. He hasn't moved at all. It's like his body is completely frozen. Either he has been trained to negate all body language, which seems odd and impractical, or this is something else entirely. Not only that, but based on my sense of smell, which is admittedly not as good as Kakashi-sempai or members of the Inuzuka clan, there's something about him that just seems…inhuman.'_

"_This may seem outlandish, but my guess is that the second cloaked individual is actually a human puppet, who is under the control of the woman. It's just a guess, which I don't have enough data to confirm as true or not, but I think it's a good guess…'_

The contemplative Uchiha was broken from his reveries when the cloaked woman next to him slipped Itachi a folded piece of paper. It was done in a very discreet manner, as Itachi probably wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been the recipient.

The ANBU Commander glanced briefly at the slip of paper with his Sharingan, making sure it wasn't a trap, before taking the slip and unfolding it.

On it was a statement, meant solely for him:

"Would you betray Konoha, to save the world? Or would you rather watch humanity burn in the fires of its own hatred, just for the sake of a single village? Which do you choose, Uchiha Itachi? Meet us at the location indicated on the back of this paper, if you decide to seek the path of true peace. We will be waiting."

Okay, now Itachi was feeling very confused. He turned aside to look at the one who had given him the piece of paper, but immediately found them both to be gone.

'_Oh they're good. They have to be S-Rank at least, to be able to sneak away like that without me noticing. Although, I admit that I was distracted_,' thought Itachi.

That's when Teuchi the ramen chef walked in, carrying Itachi's order with him.

"Sigh, don't tell me those two left without paying," muttered the old man in a frustrated but resigned tone.

"My apologies, Teuchi-san; I didn't notice them leave either. They must be very skilled if they could leave so easily without even me knowing. Why did you serve such suspicious characters in the first place?"

"Trust me; when you serve food in a ninja village like this, turning away anyone who seems even remotely suspicious would alienate a good percentage of your potential customers. But honestly, I've never really had a problem like this before. Ah well, it's just one small meal; I can live with it. As long as this doesn't become a trend."

Then the old ramen chef set Itachi's bowl of ramen on the table in front of the raven-haired teen, before placing a set of chopsticks next to it.

"Well, there you go. Hope you enjoy!" exclaimed Teuchi, as Itachi took the chopsticks and broke them in two, "But please tell me that you weren't inspired or anything by that "dine-and-ditch" act that those two just pulled off."

"Of course not; wouldn't dream of it," replied the ANBU Commander, "_Itadakimasu_."

* * *

><p>Konan and Sasori looked around in confusion at their surroundings, perplexed by the sudden shift in scenery. A few seconds ago, they had been eating, or at least Konan had been eating, in a ramen stand in one of the commercial districts of Konohagakure. Now they had somehow been teleported to the top of the Hokage Monument; specifically, the Fourth's head.<p>

For anyone else, the confusion would have lingered for a bit longer, or even escalated into full blown shock and panic. But for the two Hoshikuzu members; they already had their explanation, in the form of one word.

"Choetsu?"

"Yes, puppet boy?"

"Where the hell are you?"

"Look behind." And they did so. Turning around, Konan and Sasori found the _Rikudou Hiraishin_ sitting in his favorite lotus position, with his eyes both closed in meditation.

"Did you give Itachi-chan the message?" asked Uzumaki Choetsu.

"Yeah. Of course," answered Konan, "You said we would run into him sometime today. I didn't think it would be so soon though, and not in some ramen stand."

"Some ramen stand, you say. Lady, that ramen stand is the center of the fucking universe!"

"Whatever!" retorted Konan, clearly annoyed, "I'm guessing you planned for our encounter with the Uchiha."

"Listen, Konan-chan; there's one thing that you should know about me," said the Shodai Kamikage, "I making up all this shit as I go. I mean, do I look like a man who would have a plan."

"What about your grand master plan to create true peace and a genuine utopia? The same plan you spent an entire meeting explaining," said Sasori.

"Well, you got me there. But that's kind of different. That's my long term plan; I'm talking about the short-term. In the short term, I don't really plan anything. All the little details are pretty much improvised, and the various effects that result from them are simply integrated into my overall goal. It's all reactionary."

"So; teleporting us all of a sudden from where we were before to where we are now, was all on just a whim, huh?" inquired Konan.

"Pretty much."

"Well, now that we're here; what's the purpose of this impromptu meeting?"

"Oh, come on, puppet boy. Must there be a reason for every time I want to see you two. I can't just say hi and ask how you're day was and all that friendly, social crap. What is the world coming to!" said Choetsu, in an overdramatized tone, "But if you must know; I brought you here to give you guys a little show."

"Please tell me you're not stripping," deadpanned Sasori.

"Or planning to strip _me_ against my will," added Konan.

Choetsu scoffed, "Get your minds out of the gutter. Neither of you could handle my sexiness anyways. Although, might I add; that second option seems quite appealing as a future possibility, Konan-chan."

Konan glared murderously.

"But no; that's not what I mean by a "show". I am going to show you…the future!" exclaimed the Flying Thunder God, waving dramatically at that last part.

"The…future?" echoed Konan.

"Yes, the future. But not your future. An alternate future. The future I came from," clarified the blonde time-traveler.

"You mean your utopia?" asked Sasori.

"No, not that far into the future; only about eighteen years or so, to when my father was thirty and in the twelfth year of his reign, which is coincidently the same year I was born."

"You mean your father became the Rokudaime Hokage at the age of eighteen?" inquired Konan incredulously.

"Indeed. Youngest Hokage in history, actually, even beating my grandfather, the Yondaime. Well, he was officially inaugurated as the Sixth when he was eighteen, about a year after he ended the Fourth Greath Shinobi World War, but technically, he didn't assume the full powers and responsibilities of the office until he was twenty-four. But that was only because he personally felt that he wasn't ready yet for all of the Hokage's duties, so he delegated a lot of them to his chief advisor at the time, Nara Shikaku."

"But enough of my boring history lesson, or should I say future lesson. On with the show!"

"Wait, why are you showing us this, anyways? Is there some purpose to his? Something to do with Hoshikuzu?" asked Konan.

"Nope. It's not actually meant for you," said the Eighth Hokage, "You see, the twelve-year old version of my father in this timeline, is currently on a mission in Wave country. Based on the time difference, it should be nighttime there, and he should be sleeping. I'm sending him a vision of the future, my future, disguised as a dream. You two are just spectators in this; he's the target audience."

"Why are you influencing your future father's dreams?"

"Oh, I just need to give him a little _inspiration_, that's all," answered Choetsu with a sly grin.

* * *

><p><em>Uzumaki Naruto, Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, looked up from the dwindling paperwork on his desk to the sound of knocking at the door to his office. His two bodyguards; his right-and left-hands, Uchiha Sasuke and Sarutobi Konohamaru respectively, immediately tensed, ready for anything. <em>

_They clearly remembered a certain incident in which a man who had scheduled an appointment with the Rokudaime was actually a disguised assassin from Oto. But of course, the would-be assassin was dead the instant he stupidly chose to draw his weapon. Sasuke and Konohamaru were Naruto's elite bodyguards for a reason, after all._

_Thankfully, the man who entered upon the Hokage's exuberant "Come in, it's open!" was not a suicidal hit-man, but an old friend and mentor of Naruto's, back from his travels._

_"Yo," greeted a forty-four year old Hatake Kakashi, accompanied by his trademark "eye-smile". With two visible eyes, of course, as the man had long forgone the use of a headband to cover his Sharingan. He didn't need it anymore, as his blonde-haired former student had long since developed a seal that would allow the Copy-nin to activate and deactivate his transplanted dojutsu at will._

_He no longer wore his jonin vest, as he was no longer an active jonin. Instead, the man now wore a black, long sleeve-shirt with matching pants, all underneath a grey cloak, worn from use, which draped over his body. It gave him the appearance of the nomadic wanderer and spymaster that he now was._

_His hair was no longer spiked up in a gravity-defying manner, and it was a stark white in contrast to the silvery-grey of his youth._

_"Is that how you address your Hokage, Hatake Kakashi," said Naruto with a menacing tone and a serious expression, worrying Kakashi greatly, who was not used to seeing such a staid look on his normally playful student's face. _

_His concerns were alleviated immediately when the Rokudaime's stern frown transformed into a shit-eating grin, and the man said, "Just kidding."_

_There was a flash of yellow light as the Sixth Hokage teleported to his former sensei, before embracing him. Kakashi was caught off-guard momentarily, but returned the hug as soon as he regained his composure._

_"Glad to have you back, Kakashi-sensei, if only for a short while," said Naruto, beaming radiantly as ever. Then, the Hero of the Fourth Great Shinobi World War flashed back to his desk, leaving the son of the White Fang back in his lonesome at the center of the Hokage's office. _

_"Abusing your father's signature jutsu for such mundane purposes," said Kakashi with mock disappointment, "Tsk, tsk, tsk."_

_"Oh please. You should see some of the uses that Dad wrote down in his journal for space-time techniques. I'm not nearly as bad as him when it comes to Hiraishin abuse," replied Naruto cheekily, before turning towards his right-hand, "Hey, Sasuke-teme! Why the hell are you so stiff? It's your sensei here! Say something, damn it! You too, Konohamaru!"_

_Sasuke let out an exasperated sigh and Konohamaru sweatdropped, while Kakashi simply chuckled at Naruto's antics. _

_"Nice to see you again, Kakashi," said Sasuke, in a way that would seem half-hearted to someone else, but completely sincere to those who truly knew him. The last living adult Uchiha had changed much since his childhood and adolescence, in more ways than one._

_Appearance wise, the Rokudaime's right-hand was dressed in ANBU gear similar to that which his late elder brother had worn on the night of the massacre. His face was older, more mature, while his hair style remained relatively the same, save for the medium-length ponytail that he wore in tribute to Itachi. His signature chokuto, Kusanagi, was sheathed at the back of his waist as usual. _

"_Same here," added Konohamaru, "Still writing those dirty books of yours?"_

_The late Sandaime's grandson had grown up, no longer the short scrawny brat he was long ago. He was tall, about the same height as Kakashi, and had spiked hair similar to Kakashi's old style, albeit with his color of hair rather than the Copy-nin's. He wore the standard Leaf jonin vest, and looked very much like a cross between a younger Kakashi and a beardless Asuma. _

_The twenty-five year old's most distinctive feature, however, was the long, blue scarf wrapped around his neck. It was bunched up enough to cover the bottom half of his face, somewhat like Kakashi's mask did, and its tail end flowed down the Sarutobi's back before stopping at his waist._

_Konohamaru was now a legendary ninja in his own right, considered by many as the second coming of the God of Shinobi, and it was a well-known fact that he could use his inconspicuous looking scarf as an incredibly deadly weapon._

_Plus, it made him look badass, Kakashi admitted. _

_Kakashi smirked behind his mask before replying, "Of course; someone has to carry on Jiraiya-sama's legacy."_

_Naruto snorted, "How ironic that Ero-Sennin's biggest fan would be continuing his life's work." Even over fourteen years since his death at the hands of Pain, the Toad Sage's final student still referred to him by that same affectionate nickname._

_"Ironic, but fitting, don't you think. It's merely an unfortunate side effect that I am now considered public enemy number one when it comes to the female population of the world…especially the kunoichi."_

_"You're just lucky as hell that my two chief advisors aren't around," said the Rokudaime, "You would've had the shit kicked out of ya' practically on sight."_

_"Indeed; Hinata-sama and Sakura are by far the most…physical of my detractors," said Kakashi with an involuntary shiver, "Especially Hinata. She's become quite the firebrand since marrying you, Naruto."_

_"And great in bed too," blurted out Naruto, before realizing what exactly he had just said and then coughing awkwardly, "Well, anyways; I'm sure this meeting has a purpose. I mean, I love your visits just as much as the next guy, but usually they have strings attached."_

_"Unfortunately," added Kakashi, before taking out a manila envelop and setting it on Naruto's desk. Naruto took the envelop and opened it, before taking out a dossier from inside. The Hokage skimmed through the dossier, absorbing all of the relevant information before announcing he was finished by looking up._

_"Dr. Satori, huh; an infamous, world-renowned researcher who studied the tailed beast, specifically their chakra, who Akatsuki had taken an interest in and had detained for years until their final defeat in the War," stated the Hokage, repeating the key info he had read from the dossier, "His experiments sound like trouble. Do you know where he's hiding, sensei?"_

_Kakashi shook his head saying, "No, I don't."_

_"That won't be a problem. I'll find him myself," announced Naruto before closing his eyes, as an expression of total concentration made its way on the man's face. A couple seconds later, the pigmentation around the perfect jinchuuriki's eyes became a deeply-tinted orange, signifying his use of the fabled Sage Mode._

_When he opened them, the color of his irises had changed to an amber yellow, while his pupil elongated into the shape of a horizontal bar. "Found him. He has a lab hidden below an old Oto base. I'm surprised the Allied forces haven't caught him in our sweep of Rice country during the occupation."_

_Kakashi remained silent for a moment, in awe at Naruto's incredible senses while he channeled the power of nature. _

"_As a spymaster, I almost feel inadequate, considering that you can find a target in seconds that has eluded me for months, all from the safety of your office. Makes me question why we even need a spy network," remarked Kakashi good-naturedly._

"_Aww, don't be like that, Kakashi-sensei," replied Naruto with a grin, "Even I can't catch everything, and I'm not gonna be here forever. Until the day true peace is achieved, Konoha will always need a spy network, unfortunately."_

'_I believe that with you as our Hokage,' thought Kakashi, 'That day may be sooner than we think.'_

_Aloud he said, "So what do you plan on doing, Hokage-sama?"_

_Naruto pondered for a short moment, before flashing through a set of seals. When he was finished, an array of characters resembling a summoning array blossomed in mid-air, right in front of Sasuke._

"_I got a mission for you, teme," ordered Naruto, albeit in the same mocking tone he used with Sasuke in their boyhood, "It's S-Rank, and highly dangerous. You up for it?"_

"_I am, but why now? Today is the annual Kage Summit, and it's being held in Konoha this year," said the last male Uchiha, "Shouldn't I be guarding you alongside Konohamaru?"_

"_Oh, don't worry about that, I'm sure Konohamaru will be fine on his own, right Konohamaru?"_

"_Of course, boss!"_

"_You see. Trust me; I need you on this Sasuke. You're the only one I can trust with a mission like this. Not even my highest-ranking ANBU are good enough for it," explained Naruto, trying to convince Sasuke of his reasoning._

_It didn't take long for Sasuke to acquiesce after that, "Alright, fine. Just point me in the right direction, and I'll be on my way."_

"_No need to," replied the blonde Hokage, "Just step through that portal in front of you. I took the liberty of creating a space-time barrier connecting this location with the nearest point to your target destination that I could place a seal at. Once you step through it, you should be at the hideout."_

_Sasuke nodded, "Anything important you need to tell me before I leave?"_

_Naruto simply threw Kakashi's dossier at Sasuke, who caught it, before continuing, "Just read that, make sure the barrier doesn't close or else you'll have to take the long way home, and most importantly…don't die! Sakura-nee-chan would kill me if her husband didn't come home for dinner."_

_Sasuke smirked at that, before running head first into the space-time barrier without a moment's hesitation._

"_And there he goes," remarked Naruto after his best friend's departure. Then, he turned back to his former sensei, "I'm guessing that you need to be on your way as well, Ero-sensei."_

_Kakashi twitched at Naruto's nickname for him, before replying, "Of course, I have important "research" I need to conduct, after all."_

"_It's kinda creepy how much you've become like the old pervert. You even refer to peeping the same way."_

"_Comes with being an old man, I guess," said Kakashi as he turned around to leave, "Oh, and before I go; make sure to give my regards to that wife of yours. Hinata-sama is due for your third child in a couple weeks, isn't she?"_

"_Hell yeah, dattebayo!," answered Naruto with enthusiasm._

"_And have you guys finally thought of a name for the baby? It's gonna be a boy, right?"_

"_Yeah, it's a boy. And after mulling it over for quite awhile, me and Hinata have finally come up with a name…"_

_There was a pregnant pause, as the Rokudaime allowed the suspense to build up._

"…_how does Uzumaki Choetsu sound?"_

* * *

><p>Namikaze Naruto, son of the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, groggily opened his eyes as his mind left the embrace of slumber. The sunlight immediately blinded him, but he adjusted quickly enough. Naruto then picked himself off of the forest floor he had fallen asleep on, until his body was in an upright position.<p>

Last night, after storming out of Tazuna's house due to his violent outburst at Inari, Naruto had gone to train his ass off for venting purposes. Eventually, the fatigue had gotten to him, and he had knocked out long before he could even start heading back to the house. He hoped Kurama wasn't too worried.

Then there was that dream he had last night – it was vivid, life-like, and seemed more like a memory or a vision than a dream, and it was most certainly very weird. In it, he had been the Sixth Hokage (skipping the title of Godaime apparently), and he looked very much like his father. The only difference was his distinctive whisker marks, and a face which resembled his mother's.

There was also the matter of his clothing. He wore the same outfit as his father's; a long sleeve shirt with matching pants, a Konoha jonin vest, and the legendary, flame-decked Hokage cloak. But the color scheme was completely different. His shirt, pants, and vest were jet black, while the cloak was orange with black flames. All in all, it looked extremely badass, and Naruto thought it suited him perfectly.

If he ever became Hokage, then that was what his outfit would look like.

'_Being Hokage, huh_,' thought Naruto, '_I like the sound of that_.'

There were some aspects of the dream that both disturbed and intrigue him, however. Like the fact that his last name in the dream was Uzumaki, not Namikaze (which begs the question of what happened to his dad, who was absent from the dream), Sasuke-teme and that one brat, Konohamaru, were his elite bodyguards, Kakashi was now the writer of _Icha Icha Paradise_, which meant that his godfather was dead (a thought that saddened Naruto, even if it was just a dream), and he was apparently married to Hyuuga Hinata.

That last bit caused Naruto to blush immensely; yeah, Hinata was very cute and nice and all, but Naruto had a hard time grasping the idea of even just dating her, let alone marrying her and having two children, with a third on its way. The mere fact that they had children meant that…well, you know.

Then again, if he had to pick a girl he knew to marry, Hinata was probably his number one choice, with Haruno Sakura as a close second. And yes, that magnificent view of her under the moonlight that one night was a major factor in why.

Then there was the fact that his next child in the dream would be named Choetsu, after his long-lost uncle who he had just met a few weeks ago. Seriously, where did that come from?

And speaking of marriage; there was also that one part about Sasuke being married to Sakura, which was pretty damn random. And where was his sister in all of this?

It was best not to think about it. It was just a dream after all.

Naruto looked up at the sky, wondering what time it was. He found the sun's position in the sky to be very high, indicating it to be about noon.

'_Wait, about noon_?'

"Oh shit! I'm late! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" yelled Naruto frantically, "The others probably already left without me! I gotta get back to the house!"

Naruto took off immediately, flashing away in his haste. The dream was forgotten, for the time being.

* * *

><p>When they arrived at the bridge, it was already covered in the dead bodies of Tazuna's fellow bridge builders. Tazuna, being a civilian, was not used to such bloodshed and stood horrified, while Kurama was not faring much better, although she outwardly composed herself as a shinobi.<p>

"Wha-what's this?" asked Tazuna, plain shock evident in his voice's inflection. The sound of groaning could be heard nearby, and Tazuna ran to it. There, he found one of the workers, still alive but heavily wounded and most likely dying.

"What the hell happened?" inquired Tazuna, desperately questioning the wounded man.

"It was…a monster," was all the man could mutter before his eyes closed and his pulse stilled to a halt.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the man's dying words, before looking around in suspicion, '_Can it be_…?' That's when he noticed the thickening mist, and he immediately knew what was going on.

"Here they come!" announced the Copy-nin abruptly, alerting both Sasuke and Kurama. They all made a formation around the client, choosing their positions wisely to give Tazuna maximum protection. Kakashi's two present students both took out kunai, holding the bladed weapons tightly in their grips for dear life.

'_So he really is alive…and he's here already_…' thought Kakashi while forming a half-tiger seal with the fingers of his right hand.

"Kakashi-sensei, this is…" began Kurama, addressing her superior, "this is _Kirigakure no Jutsu_, isn't it?"

Kakashi nodded an affirmative.

Then a demonic voice spoke from the mist, chilling all but the jonin, "Long time no see, Kakashi. I can see that you still have those brats of yours with you."

Sasuke began to shake involuntarily, his entire body betraying the Uchiha's will to keep still.

"Look at that one," continued Momochi Zabuza, still hidden by his jutsu, "He's shaking again, the poor kid. He's practically shivering in fear!"

Then, the mist erupted in a chaotic cacophony as a dozen of Zabuza's _Mizu bunshins _suddenly jumped into view, surrounding Team 7 sans Naruto and their client. Sasuke simply smirked.

"I'm not shivering in fear. No; I'm shivering…in excitement."

The battle begins.

TBC

A.N. And there you have it! Chapter 25 everybody! And let me just say one thing: fucking Orochimaru!

Well, I have more to say, but that's just a start.

That little dream sequence that Choetsu gave Naruto was a glimpse of the future of Canon Naruto, with our favorite blonde ninja (not named Minato or Choetsu) in the position of Rokudaime. If I hadn't alreadly made that clear in the chapter. It's part one of a series of such dream sequences, and the events that take place in said dreams will play a role relating to the wider narrative, but is also designed to act as a bit of fanservice. I mean, you guys are gonna get to see how badass and overpowered Naruto grew up to be, as well as the fate of the rest of the shinobi world after the Fourth World War.

Now to clarify a few things about future Naruto's Rokudaime staff. Future Sasuke and grown-up Konohamaru are basically is elite bodyguards, directly under his control. They are like what Darui and C are to the Fourth Raikage; his right and left hand men. They're also, at the time, the two most powerful shinobi in Konoha besides Naruto himself. Hinata and Sakura are his chief advisors, like it was mentioned by Naruto, and they play the same role to him Homura and Kotaru, except for the fact that they're always on his sides. And, although not mentioned in the dream, I like to think that Moegi and Udon are his assistants/secretaries, like Shizune was to Tsunade.

And finally; pay attention to the dude mentioned in Kakashi's repor; you'll see more of him in future dream sequences and he'll play somewhat of a huge role. And yes, he's an OC.

Next chapter we shift to Team 7 again, and the final battle for Wave begins!

Anyways, hope you all enjoyed, and please read and review! More reviews and more detail in reviews might just actually drive me to update faster, if its possible :)


	27. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: I use to own Naruto, until I took an arrow to the knee...okay, maybe not.

Author's Note: My most sincere apologies for not updating for the longest time yet in my tenure as the author of It's Rikudou Hiraishin to You! I've just started my first year in college just a few weeks ago, and it has really made me busy, so I wasn't able to divert as much time to writing this story as I used to...

Chapter 26: The Battle on the Bridge, Begins

_"I'm not shivering in fear. No; I'm shivering…in excitement."_

"Do it, Sasuke!" commanded Kakashi, while presenting his trademark "eye-smile". Sasuke acknowledged his order with a nod, while one of Zabuza's clones gave a grunt in contempt before attempting to strike the Leaf party with his _Kubikiribocho_.

Sasuke was too fast for him, however.

The young Uchiha heir braced his foot against the ground, before blasting off and transforming into a living whirlwind of flickering slashes, slicing and dicing through the dozen water clones like a hot knife through butter. When it was over, mere seconds later, the _mizu bunshin_ had collapsed back into their harmless, liquid state, and Sasuke was standing posed back in his original position, with two kunai held in both hands.

Sasuke lifted his head so that his onyx eyes were looking straight forward, boring holes into the form of the original Zabuza, who was now visible standing at a distance from Team 7 with his masked accomplice by his side.

"Impressive; he managed to take out all of my water clones. That brat sure has grown," remarked Zabuza, "By the looks of it, he could probably rival _you_ in speed, Haku."

"So it seems," was Haku's stoic reply.

Noticing the fake hunter-nin's presence, Kakashi thought, '_Is it just me, or is their something drastically different about Zabuza's partner_.'

Then he noticed the change…

'_…I swear those weren't nearly as big the last time we fought_.'

Thankfully, Kakashi's mask hid the glaring blush and perverted grin that had appeared on his face. The Konohagakure _jonin_ made a concerted effort to shift his thoughts elsewhere; he couldn't afford to be…_distracted_, in the middle of a battle like that, after all.

'_Well, at least I know her gender now_…'

The silent tension between the two opposing groups was cut in half when Sasuke spoke, "Leave the masked weirdo to me. I'll fight him."

"Huh?" said Kurama, as she turned to face her teammate, "What the hell do you mean by that? We're supposed to be a team, asshole! Don't go hogging all the fun, _dattebane_!"

'_Looks like someone is getting quite worked up_,' mused Kakashi, mildly amused by his student's antics, despite the dire situation they were in. A small part of him was worried that letting his students talk freely in combat like this might distract them, leading to a fatal mistake that would jeopardize the mission.

The more "rational" part of him, however, quickly recalled that no shinobi has ever suffered for talking in battle. Talking was a free action, after all. And it seemed like their enemies were partaking in it as well…

"Even though the water clones only had about a tenth of the original's power," stated Haku, "Defeating them all is still an impressive feat for such a young man."

"Indeed," said Zabuza, "But we still have the advantage here. Now go, Haku!"

"As you wish, Zabuza-sama," was the tool's reply, before she vanished from plain sight.

A week ago, Sasuke would never have caught the sudden reappearance behind him, as Haku flickered in for the attack. But now, after the tree climbing exercise and all the other training Kakashi had put them through, Sasuke was ready and alert.

Reacting quickly, the Uchiha turned on a dime so that he was facing the masked _Hyouton_ user, preparing himself to counter whatever attack she threw at him.

* * *

><p>Tsunami, daughter of the bridge builder Tazuna, was simply attending to her usual housework when the wooden wall behind her collapsed and two men armed with swords barged into her home. They were Gatou's hired mercenaries; a pair of <em>ronin<em> named Zori and Waraji.

After entering, the two swordsmen cornered Tsunami, intent on taking her hostage. When her young son Inari arrived downstairs to the scene of his mother being threatened by the two mercenaries, Waraji, the shirtless, tattooed samurai with an eye patch moved to kill him, forcing Tsunami to leave with the two ronin as a hostage in exchange for her son's life.

However, when Tsunami was herded out of the house and on to the wharf by Zori and Waraji, Inari appeared again, incensed by his new found, Naruto-inspired determination.

"Get away from my mom!" yelled the little boy as he charged the two men holding his mother hostage. From a rational point of view, this type of thinking would have been considered monumentally stupid. But, in a universe such as this, blind faith and enduring determination were rewarded handsomely.

"Geez, what a stuipid kid," remarked Waraji, as he watched Inari run after them.

"Let's just go ahead and kill him," said his partner, Zori.

"Sure."

And then the two ronin unsheathed their blades before moving to strike the little boy down in a flash of steel…only to find Inari replaced with a wooden log after their slashes had already been delivered.

"_Kawarimi no Jutsu_!" exclaimed one of the ronin after realizing what had happened.

"Sorry for being late. But a hero usually shows up at the very last minute," said a voice from behind the samurai. Turning around, Zori and Waraji found both their hostage and her son, now bereft of his fisherman's hat, being tended to by a blonde-haired boy. The boy was wearing a black track-suit with orange stripes lining the sleeves and white ninja pants.

When the blonde turned around, the two ronin immediately noticed the Konoha _hitae-ate_ he was wearing, and the distinctive whisker marks on his cheeks.

"Good job, Inari!" praised Naruto as he gave the eight-year old his biggest grin, causing the boy to look sheepish, "Thanks to your distraction, I was able to save your mom."

Waraji smirked, "Well, well, if it isn't one of the lame ass ninja that the old geezer Tazuna hired. You picked the wrong fight, kid."

If anything, Naruto's smile grew even larger at the taunt.

"Are you gonna be okay, Naruto?" asked Inari.

"Of course! I'm Namikaze Naruto, after all. Don't worry, this won't take longer then…" began Naruto, before he flickered forward with _Shunshin no Jutsu_, reappearing behind the two mercenaries in a yellow flash, "…a second."

Then, mere moments later, both Zori and Waraji collapsed to the ground as blood spurt from their slit throats, courtesy of the kunai in Naruto's hands.

Afterwards, Naruto turned around to look upon the newly-dead swordsmen…and was then faced with the sudden urge to vomit. Naruto had just killed two human beings; his hands were stained with blood.

Yes, he had killed Ruido, the Leaf-turned-Cloud shinobi who kidnapped Hyuuga Hinata, but he had killed him with an exploding tag, leaving no remains behind as proof of Naruto's unpleasant deed. Plus, at the time he had been too focused on Hinata to dwell on the fact that he had just taken a life.

Now, proof was right in front of him, in the form of the fresh corpses of the two samurai. Blood was still leaking from the slits on their necks, and a look of shock and horror was still present on their faces. Naruto had done this. He had killed him.

It was only through his iron will and the reassurance that, if he hadn't intervened, these two men would have killed Inari and taken Tsunami hostage, was Naruto able to force down the vomit rising up from his stomach and put on a brave face for Inari. But that didn't make him feel any better.

"Hey Naruto; how did you know those samurai were coming here?" asked Inari in curiosity, breaking the Namikaze from his reverie.

"Well, there was this boar I found in the forest on my way to your house, and it had a bunch of slash marks all over it," explained Naruto, "Not only that, but there were a lot of trees and other stuff on the way back that had more slash marks on them, and they were all leading to your house, so I got worried and started to rush more than I already was."

"That's good, cuz' you made it just in time!"

The Hokage's son grinned, looking sheepish, before continuing, "Hehe, yeah. Anyways; listen, Inari. About yesterday, at the dinner table; I'm really sorry about yelling at you, and having an outburst and everything. I…I really have no idea what came over me. Stuff like that usually doesn't happen to me. "

Inari stared at Naruto in bewilderment, but accepted his apology as genuine and heartfelt. The next thing he knew, though, the blonde-haired twelve-year old had placed his hand on top of Inari's head in an affectionate manner. His grin seemed to get even brighter, and Inari had the feeling that he had something very important to say.

"Inari…you're a tough kid, ya' know. You really are strong!"

Hearing such praised from the blonde speedster caused Inari to tear up, as the little boy began crying and sniffling. His reaction perplexed Naruto, who was now wondering if he had done something to upset him.

"W-What's wrong, Inari?"

"Damn it!" said the boy as tears ran down from his eyes, "I…I said I wasn't going to cry anymore. Now you're just going to make fun of me and call me a crybaby again!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Huh?" said Inari, as he stopped crying momentarily to look up at Naruto. He was promptly greeted by a beaming smile as radiant as the sun itself, as Namikaze Naruto, with his hands held behind his head, declared confidently…

"It's alright to cry, Inari, when you're happy!"

After hearing this, Inari finally gave in, allowing the dam to burst and the waterworks to ensue. He cried tears of joy, overwhelmed by emotion upon realizing that he had finally done something that allowed himself to live up to his father's legacy and overcome his fear and cowardice.

Naruto's features softened as he watched the boy cry, but they darkened again when he looked back at the two corpses he was responsible for.

"Well, if they attacked here, then the bridge might be in danger as well. I need to get to my team as fast as possible," said the blonde.

Then he turned to Inari again, with another grin, "I can count on you here, right?"

Inari wiped the tears from eye with his arm, before looking up and giving an exuberant, "Of course!"

"Good! A hero's work is never done, after all! And being a hero sure is tough!"

"Definitely!" exclaimed Inari in reply.

"Well, I'm off! But first, I should probably take these off," said Naruto as he kneeled down before rolling up his pant legs, revealing the weighted accessories wrapped around his ankles.

Inari looked on in interest as his new idol removed the weights from his legs, before holding them up in front of him and then dropping them off the edge of the wharf. When they fell in the water, the weights caused an explosion of water, kicking up a wave that was taller than Inari's house. Inari's jaw practically hit the floor, utterly shocked by how heavy Naruto's training weights had been, just before the displaced water crashed into him and his home. When he recovered, he and the entire wharf were drenched in water, and Naruto was now gone.

* * *

><p>The phenomenon known as the fight-or-flight response is one found in almost all living creatures, humans included. When faced with a highly dangerous situation, one's body can be so aroused by fear and the drive for survival that it automatically and involuntary triggers this response, causing the individual to, as the name suggests, either remain and fight for their right to live, or flee in order to avoid death or serious injury.<p>

However, there is that very rare occasion in which the fear, the terror, the killing intent, and the sheer danger that a person is experiencing in a situation is so incredibly great, and so vastly insurmountable that this response is literally crippled and rendered impotent and non-functioning, causing them to freeze up.

This is the very dilemma that faced Haruno Sakura and her teammate Hoshino Daisuke, as the legendary Sannin Orochimaru slowly walked towards them, with a devious, malicious smirk on his pale, ghost-like face.

He was the very embodiment of a predator playing with its food, the prey. And they were most certainly the prey.

"Hmm, decisions, decisions. What to do? Shall I simply kill you and be done with it. A cold, pragmatic option that wastes no time, indeed, but where's the fun in that," said Orochimaru in a sinister tone, as he got closer and closer to the two genin, "I could always leave you alive for the purpose of an experiment or two, but really, I see no merit for the use of your bodies. Neither of you are members of a prestigious clan, or possess any rare and powerful bloodline limits. You two are worthless to me."

"But," continued the snake as he licked his lips, "there might be some worth to you, after all, however fleeting and temporary. Although I'm a scientist at heart, and not one for much unnecessary bloodshed, I think I deserve a little self-indulgence from time to time. And so, I have the _perfect_ use for you two…"

"…you will be my entertainment for the day!"

And then suddenly his teammate, Jiraiya of the Sannin, flickered in front of Orochimaru before punching him in the face with enough force to send the snake-like man flying over a hundred meters away.

Daisuke and Sakura, in the meantime, were currently gaping in shock at the fact that a white haired mountain of a man had just jumped in out of nowhere and socked their tormentor so hard it literally ejected him from the area. Sakura was doubly shocked, however, as she of course knew exactly who their savior is. It helped sometimes to pay attention to Iruka's lectures.

While they were still in their states of astonishment, Jiraiya turned around before giving them both a silly grin and asking, "Are you kids alright?"

Before the genin could answer, however, the Toad Sage detected a powerful gust of wind, courtesy of the _Great Breakthrough Technique_, heading straight for him. He reflexively jumped to dodge…inadvertently leaving Sakura and Daisuke in the path of the attack.

Realizing his mistake, Jiraiya tried to weave a few seals in order to counter the _Fuuton_, but was already too late. Sakura got hit by the full blunt of the attack, which blew her relatively frail and fragile body away.

"Sakura!" called Daisuke as he jumped behind his teammate in order to catch her and cushion her eventual impact against the rock face they ended up crashing into momentarily. As a result of their position, with Daisuke shielding Sakura's body from behind, the male shinobi ended up receiving the worse of the damage, as his head and back slammed painfully into the wall.

"_Katon: Endan_ (Fire Release: Flame Bomb)!" exclaimed Jiraiya in mid-air, right before releasing a medium size fireball from his mouth. The fireball impacted a few feet from a charging Orochimaru, before exploding in a conflagration of _Katon_ chakra. When the smoke, dust, and debris cleared, it revealed Orochimaru, safely ensconced within a protective Earth dome.

Inside the dome, the Snake Sannin formed a set of seals before exclaiming, "_Doton: Judan no Arashi_ (Earth Release: Bullet Storm)!" The outer layer of his earthen defense exploded into a relentless barrage of supersonic rock bullets, ready to pierce the Yondaime's mentor with extreme prejudice.

Thankfully, Jiraiya was able to complete his own seal sequence and bring up an Earth wall just in time to counter the bullet storm. After his former teammate's attack pelted harmlessly off his compact barricade, the summoner of the Toads made a familiar cross-seal, forming two _kage bunshins_ on each side of him. Then, Jiraiya hopped on top of his own Earth wall before flashing through even more hand seals.

"_Fire Release: Stream_!" exclaimed both shadow clones, while the original announced, "_Ninja Art: Toad Oil Bullet_!" The two streams of intense Katon chakra and the singular deluge of toad oil converged on one point; the outer layer of Orochimaru's rock dome. Upon contact, the twin flames ignited the oil, causing a massive explosion of heat and force to engulf the traitor's defense.

Back with the genin; Sakura slowly felt her mind return to awareness, as a throbbing pain made it self known throughout her body. Whatever had hit them, had hit them _hard_. It didn't take long for the cherry blossom to register a soft, warm object cushioning her body from behind. When she turned around, Sakura found it to be her teammate.

He was an absolute mess.

His head and neck were bent at an uncomfortable and unusual looking angle, stuck up against the wall, and there was blood running down from his head, soaking his youthful brown hair in crimson. The kunoichi gave a short squeak in panic, before composing herself like a ninja and quickly reaching for the medical supplies in her pouch.

That's when she noticed the metal finger. It was lying on the ground next to Daisuke, and the piercing glint of its shiny, chrome finish was what caught her attention. From its position, Sakura assumed it fell out of her teammate's pocket.

But he was supposed to throw it away, wasn't he?

"You…alright, Sa-Sakura-chan?" whispered Daisuke weakly. He was delirious, as evident by his use of honorific for Sakura's name. He could feel the blood dripping down his forehead, and if it weren't for the fuzzy headed numbness that was dulling his sense of awareness, Daisuke would have felt the unbearable, excruciating pain wracking his neck and the back of his head.

"I'm fine, D-Daisuke. But…but why do you…why do you have this?" asked Sakura, while holding out the metal finger in front of his face. Daisuke looked weak, and his eyes were drooping, but he managed to conjure enough strength to reply.

"So…so…sorry, I-I co-couldn't…resist…I…disobeyed…sensei's o-orders. I'm s-sorry," stuttered the injured boy, "I…feel…lightheaded…so weird."

Sakura was tearing up inside, "You…you…you…YOU IDIOT!"

Daisuke's eyes widened in panic, as he witnessed his teammate launch into a frenzy.

His eyes widened even more when the pink-haired kunoichi grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, before shaking him violently and causing his lightheadedness to become even worse. He tried to stop her, but was feeling far too weak and drained to do so.

"How could you! I told you…Sensei told you…we all told you to get rid of that stupid finger! I can't believe this! Any decent ninja should've been able to tell that a random, unusual object in the middle of nowhere that literally calls out for them to pick it up is nothing but a big fat trap!" ranted Sakura as she continued shaking her injured teammate.

"But no, you just had to pick it up, you just had to. And what's worse…even when Yosho-sensei spelled it out for you, _ordering_ you specifically to throw it away, you still didn't listen to him! And because of you, that man came, and now…and now…Jiro…Jiro is…and Sensei too…"

"I…know…Sakura…it's all…my…" stuttered Daisuke before nodding off, unable to complete his sentence due to his finally succumbing to the darkness swarming his lightheaded mind.

Seeing her last living comrade's eyes shut and believing him to be dead, Sakura began sobbing, breaking down into tears like she wanted to do for so long. Only her faith in Yosho-sensei had prevented the dam from bursting, but that very same faith had been so utterly shattered when the treacherous snake had defeated their sensei and taken him away, leaving the two hopeless and defenseless.

It was only the timely arrival of another Sannin that prevented the two from becoming Orochimaru's next prey.

Speaking of Jiraiya; the super pervert was currently examining the smoking crater where his previous attack had blasted Orochimaru's dome to smithereens. To his discontent, he only found traces of mud laced with faint bits of the snake's chakra, in place of where his charred body should have been.

"A mud clone! Shit," said Jiraiya, "Damn you, Orochimaru."

His accursed teammate was as elusive as ever, and today would be just another day that the former Hokage candidate would escape Jiraiya's attempts of pursuit. But now, innocents had been caught in the crossfire.

The Toad Sage turned around and quickly made his way over to the two genin he had seen being cornered by Orochimaru when he had arrived. When he got there, he found the pinked-haired girl slumped over the body of the boy, and she was sobbing deeply into his chest.

The boy was either unconscious or dead; Jiraiya couldn't exactly tell from his current distance. But he could see the copious amount of blood trickling from his head. If he wasn't dead already, he would be momentarily, if nothing was done about it.

Jiraiya sighed heavily, catching Sakura's attention, who looked at him with tearstained eyes filled with a myriad of emotions, desperation being the foremost of them.

"I gotta get these kids back to Konoha."

* * *

><p>It was the light of smoldering sparks flying that reached Kurama's eyes first, when Sasuke's kunai and the masked ninja's senbon needle collided. The sound of the exchange didn't come until later, with a noticeably delayed effect registering to Kurama's acute senses. Such was the speed of the two combatants, that sound itself seemed sluggish in comparison.<p>

Zabuza's eyes narrowed at the scene, '_So he really can keep up with Haku's speed, huh._'

Kakashi, on the other hand, was proud of his Uchiha student, whose training seemed to have paid off. Turning towards his other student, the Copy-nin said, "Kurama, stay in front of Tazuna-san and keep to my side. Let's let Sasuke handle that guy."

Kurama looked perturbed, "Why should I let Sasuke get all the action? That's not fair, Kakashi-sensei! I finished the tree-climbing exercise too."

Kakashi sighed, "Think about it this way, Kurama; you'll be helping me fight against Zabuza. I'm sure that should satisfy your need to prove yourself."

The scarecrow's reasoning didn't seem to satisfy Kurama all that much, but she decided to drop the subject for the time being, instead focusing on the battle at hand.

The main enemy, Zabuza, hadn't moved much yet since the failed water clone attack, while his accomplice and Sasuke were still locked together in combat.

"I sincerely do not wish to kill you," said the fake hunter-nin, "But I have a feeling that you just won't give up."

"Don't be stupid," replied Sasuke, "Of course I won't."

"Nevertheless, you won't be able to keep up with any of my next moves. Trust me," continued the gendered-swapped teen, "And plus, I now have two distinct advantages over you."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "And those would be…?"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out momentarily…if you're not already dead by then," said the Demon's apprentice, before she formed a half-seal with her left hand.

Both Sasuke and Kurama noticed this, but as Sasuke was currently occupied, Kurama was the one to react. Ignoring her superior's orders, the Hokage's daughter leaped upwards before throwing a kunai at Haku from above, forcing her to dodge.

Kakashi mentally facepalmed at his student's direct subordination, but ultimately let it slide. Sasuke, on the other hand, was deeply annoyed that his teammate had intervened in what should be _his_ battle, but decided to take advantage of the situation anyways.

Pushing forward, Sasuke made a quick upward slice at the temporarily distracted Haku. Caught off-guard, the sole wielder of the Ice Release bloodline was just barely able to evade...but was unable to prevent the front of her kimono from being sliced open down the middle.

And then her newly endowed, milky white, succulent, voluptuous, and most importantly _braless_ and completely _exposed_ breasts spilled out into the open, revealing themselves for the world - and most importantly, Sasuke - to see and feast their eyes upon.

This resulted in the Uchiha's eyes widening comically in shock, before a splurge of blood erupted from his nostrils, sending the pre-pubescent boy flying twenty feet away before landing on his head. He was already out cold even before impact.

The rest of the combatants simply froze in disbelief at how easily the Uchiha had been taken out, and even Kurama was outright gaping with raw incredulousness. Haku, on the other hand, was thankful that her mask was hiding the massive blush on her face, as the former male tucked her boobs back into her kimono before reapplying the chakra control exercise that allowed her to hold them in place.

'_I know I should have just worn my new bra today, instead of trying out the Sannin Tsunade's special technique_,' thought Haku, '_well; at least I know these damn breasts are useful for something_.'

'_Damn it, Sasuke; even you turn out to be a closet perv_,' thought Kurama, '_Well, at least now we know he's not gay or anything_.'

'_I'm disappointed in you Sasuke. To fall for something like that so easily; maybe I should add Icha Icha Paradise to your training regime in order to build up resistance,_' thought Kakashi, _'can't have you fainting whenever an enemy kunoichi accidently or even purposely flashes her goods after all. Although, it's somewhat understandable in this case; those pair of breasts were probably some of the best even I've ever seen_.'

'_Heh, what a virgin_,' thought Zabuza. The kid had talent, but it was obvious that any kunoichi worth her salt could take advantage of such a glaring "weakness". And even some male shinobi as well, thanks to _Henge no Jutsu_.

The flow of battle resumed once again, when Kurama formed a cross-seal with her fingers and created a dozen shadow clones around her. Haku responded by flickering out of vision, before striking again as a storm of razor-sharp blurs and high-speed movement which erupted around the small army of Kurama clones.

Unlike their last battle, however, Kurama was able to react this time, as each of the shadow clones together successfully manage to parry the flurry of rapid strikes with their kunai, with the exception of two clones that failed to do so and were sliced apart, dissolving back into their constituent chakra.

After the mostly failed assault, Haku reappeared several feet away before weaving a few half-seals and announcing, "_Ice Release: Erupting Spike Bed_!"

Suddenly, all of the water on the ground surrounding the Kurama clones transformed into spikes of ice that extended upwards before piecing right through each of the Kurama clones, causing them all to dispel in several pops of smoke. None of them were the original.

Haku gave a subdued "tch" in annoyance, before mentally remarking, '_Damn, all of them were clones. When did the original have the time to sneak out of that crowd without me noticing? And most importantly, where is the original_?'

Her unspoken question was quickly answered when the real Kurama flickered behind her, before slashing at her with a kunai. Haku was able to sense the attack before it connected, and was able to avoid a grievous injury by ducking. The red-haired vixen gave her no respite, however, and spun her kunai so that the bladed end was facing the ground, that way she could thrust the blade downwards to hopefully stab her enemy to death.

Haku was too quick, rushing forward to avoid the blade. Taking advantage of her already existing momentum, the bloodline user continued her charge, aiming for her target, Tazuna.

Before she could reach him, however, the Hokage's daughter flickered in front of her, before parrying her attack with her own weapon, leaving the two in a deadlock not very dissimilar to the one Haku had been locked into with Sasuke just a few moments earlier.

"So, you've grown faster as well," remarked Haku, while glaring directly into Kurama's eyes.

"Huh, didn't think you'd notice," replied the red-haired vixen.

"Either way, I cannot lose," concluded the Ice-user, before she started a sequence of half-seals.

The tailed beast-turned-human didn't allow her to continue, however, and promptly interrupted her jutsu by forming a familiar cross-seal. Two shadow clones materialized on both sides of the two combatants, before the two clones simultaneously attacked Haku with their kunai, forcing Zabuza's apprentice to leap away.

When Haku landed a few meters away, the original Kurama and her clones all jumped into the air before releasing their respective kunai one by one. The fake hunter-nin dodged each of the projectiles by hopping backwards three times. Kurama wasn't finished however; forming another cross-seal with her fingers, the Hokage's daughter created a dozen more clones, their arrival heralded by a large cloud of smoke.

The majority of the clones leapt out of the smoke before landing on the ground. Then, each of the clones completed a short series of seals before announcing in unison, '_Fire Release: Stream_!"

Immediately, roughly over a dozen torrents of searing flames erupted from the mouths of Kurama's shadow clones, all of them converging on the enemy kunoichi. Haku's response was to quickly weave a few half-seals, before declaring, "_Suiton: Suijingeki_ (Water Release: Water Encampment Wall)!"

Two large masses of water emerged from both sides of the bridge, before swirling around Haku and creating a spiraling wall to defend her from the incoming fire streams. Upon impact, the flames evaporated Haku's water wall, causing a copious amount of water vapor to obscure the surrounding area.

Following that up, another Kurama clone emerged jumping from the smoke cloud still in the air, before throwing a large _Fuuma _shuriken at the water vapor marking her foe's supposed location. Haku sensed the attack, however, and evaded with a somersault to the left, causing the missed projectile to become embedded in the ground.

The senbon-wielder was caught off-guard when the shuriken suddenly transformed into a clone of Kurama, who immediately thrust at Haku with a kunai in hand. The bladed weapon got within an inch of her person before Haku reacted, stopping the attack by harshly grabbing the clone's wrist, spinning it around, and then delivering a forceful kick to its exposed backside, dispelling it.

Unfortunately for Haku, the clone had dropped its kunai in the middle of the exchange, and the exploding tag attached to it detonated shortly after its former wielder was destroyed. The resulting explosion engulfed Haku's form, blowing away the surrounding fog of water vapor and replacing it with a smokescreen of ejected debris.

Kurama didn't want to give her adversary any undue advantages, on the off-chance that she had survived the explosion, so she commanded her clones to regroup and surround the debris cloud on all sides. When it cleared, it revealed Haku's singed, dirtied, but mostly unharmed figure standing in the middle.

Zabuza was impressed, as both he and Kakashi had observed the brief battle between kunoichi from the sidelines; neither of them had made a direct move yet, instead acting through their protégée.

"So, Kakashi; looks like both your brats have really grown since last week," yelled Zabuza, addressing Kakashi from across the bridge, "What the hell have you been feeding them while I was gone?"

Kakashi smirked, "I won't have you belittling my team by calling them brats. Kurama graduated at the top of her class, while Sasuke graduated second and was the number-one boy. And my other student, Naruto, while considered the dead last, is actually in truth the most talented of them all, not to mention the fastest and most unpredictable. I'm confident that my students can give yours a run for her money."

"We'll see about that, Copycat. These students of yours are far too young and inexperienced to be able to hold a candle to Haku's genius," retorted Zabuza, '_I say that, but really, we're in a bad position right now. Both of these genin have just proven me wrong by being able to keep up with Haku, and the third one, the blonde kid who fought Haku on an even level last time, hasn't even shown up yet.'_

'_If the blonde has improved even half as much as the others, than Haku will be hard-pressed to win if he, uhh, I mean if she doesn't bring her A-game. But I have a feeling that she'll bring it soon; I can already feel the chill in the air.'_

He wasn't the only one. Kurama, too, was starting to notice a sudden drop in temperature, resulting in a chill that seemed downright unnatural. It didn't take her long to realize that the chill was emanating from Haku herself, as wisps of frigid-feeling chakra rolled off her form in waves, before dispersing into thin air.

Haku formed an unusual seal with both hands this time, causing her chakra to flare as the water covering the bridge began reacting to the masked kunoichi's will. Then, all of the water was pulled upwards into the air before flash-freezing into solid masses, and now the Kurama clones were suddenly surrounded on all sides by a dome of twenty-one, floating, crystal ice mirrors.

"_Hijutsu: Makyo Hyoshi_ (Secret Technique: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals)!" declared Haku after completing her ultimate technique.

Kakashi was utterly perplexed by the strange jutsu, '_What is this? I've never seen anything like it before_…'

What Haku did next was even more strange and unusual. Moving forward slowly, the sole wielder of the Ice Release bloodline walked up to one of the mirrors, before literally sticking her head and right leg into the mirror itself, causing the two body parts to become converted into a two-dimensional image displayed on the mirror's surface. The rest of her body soon followed.

Next, the image of Haku now projected onto the first mirror became reflected against another mirror, and another, and another, and another still until all of the mirrors surrounding Kurama had an image of the enemy kunoichi.

Seeing this from the outside, Kakashi leapt forward to assist his student. Before he could reach her, however, he was quickly intercepted by Zabuza, who calmly said, "What do you think you're doing? Your opponent…is me, Kakashi. Did you forget that already?"

Kakashi grimaced behind his mask, '_Shit, looks like I'm tied up at the moment. I hope Kurama can hold her own against that jutsu until I can give her my assistance. I'll try to take out Zabuza as fast as possible, but please, Just hang in there_…'

Back with Haku and the Kurama shadow clones, which had taken the liberty of arranging themselves in a circular formation, that way they could cover each other's blind spots and react to attacks from all directions…

"Well, shall I begin?" said Haku out loud, as her voice echoed across the different mirrors in a way that made it seemed like it was coming from multiple directions at once.

'_What…what the hell are these…mirrors_?' wondered the original Kurama in her mind, as she prepared herself for whatever the enemy was planning to throw at her.

"Now then; I will show you my _true_ speed…"

Suddenly, the space within the dome of mirrors erupted into a chaotic flurry; a storm-like barrage of razor-sharp cuts and blindingly fast slashes that made the one from earlier seem like a breeze compared to a hurricane. In an instant, all of the clones were obliterated, while the original remained with a tremendous multitude of cuts, gashes, and scratches marking her entire body.

Seeing his student hacked from all directions and hearing the pained cry that resounded from her lips filled Kakashi with a desperate feeling of concern and prompted him to yell his students name out in distress.

"Kurama!"

* * *

><p>Uzumaki Nagato was at his usual spot, standing atop his citadel in Amegakure no Sato while watching over his beloved city like a king viewing his kingdom, or more accurately, like a god observing his creation.<p>

Amegakure, or the current Amegakure at least, was indeed his own creation in a sense. The sprawling industrial metropolis that was now the so-called "Village" Hidden in the Rain could never have been possible when Ame was ruled by the tyrannical Hanzo.

To be honest, it was only Rain's extreme isolationist policy, only maintaining contact with the outside world through missions and the biannual _Chunin Exam_, which prevented them from becoming a serious contender with the Five Great Shinobi Nations. They certainly had the military power, especially with a virtual god leading the village.

"Nice weather we're having," intoned a voice from behind, waking Nagato from his reverie, "don't you think?"

Without even turning around, Nagato replied, "Sigh, what is it now, Choetsu?"

"Must you sound so utterly discontent with my presence," said the self-proclaimed _Rikudou Hiraishin_, as he walked forward into Nagato's peripheral vision, dressed in the same _Hoshikuzu_ cloak as the other Rinnegan-user, "It wounds me so, Nagato-chan. What have I ever done to elicit such a negative reaction?"

"Do you want the full list, or should I just give you the heavily abridged version?"

"How long will that take? I have some important business I need to discuss with you, so it's not like I have all the time in the world. Well, technically I do, space-time techniques are just awesome like that, but I'm sure you don't."

The Seventh Path of Pain rolled his eyes before speaking, "Sarcasm, learn it. But if you want a serious answer to your question; the abridged version will take the better part of a millennium, while the full list may take somewhere between forever and eternity."

Choestu narrowed his eyes in mild confusion, "Really? Odd; I could've sworn I've done far more things to piss you off than that. Your list should be longer."

"I stopped counting after aleph one, to be honest."

"Ah, that explains it. Anywho, before I digress even further, please allow me to –ooh squirrel – err, please allow me the honor of informing you of your new mission."

"New mission? Me? But isn't that Sasori's jo-…"

"Sasori is still in Konoha, playing the role of bodyguard for your fuck buddy, who is completely fine by the way," interjected the Shodai Kamikage.

"Fuck buddy? You mean Konan, right," said Nagato, while glaring dangerously at the True Rikudou.

"Oh yes, that was her name wasn't it."

"Indeed. And I believe the proper term is lover, by the way."

"Lover, fuck buddy, same difference. Which word you use doesn't change the fact that you two screw like rabbits! You guys use protection, right? Well of course you do! If you didn't I am quite sure that Konan-chan would be pregnant many times over by now."

"You're digressing again," interjected Nagato, his cheeks were burning red.

"Oh, am I? My apologies. Anyways, your mission," said Nagato while taking a photograph from his cloak and holding it out for the self-proclaimed god to see, "is this."

The former student of the Toad Sage gazed at the photo, finding it to be a picture of a barely-pubescent mint-haired girl with tanned, caramel skin. He only had one thing to say…

"Please tell me this doesn't involve any sudden pedophilic urges that you've recently developed."

Choetsu took on a look of mock offense, before replying, "Are you somehow insinuating that I'm a closet lolicon? You insult me, Volcano-chan. I'll have you know that I like big butts and I cannot lie. Although, I'm actually much more of a breast man, to be honest …"

"Well, you have to admit…this picture of a pre-teen girl that you have on you for some odd reason is pretty insinuating."

"She's a _jinchuuriki_."

"Come again."

"This girl is the vessel of the Nanabi, and she is the objective of your current mission. Got that, lover boy?"

The false Rikudou looked shocked for a brief moment, but quickly composed himself, "Oh, well, that explains a lot. So I'm guessing you want me to capture her so we can extract the bijuu from her body and use it to fuel a superweapon of mass destruction? Right?"

Choetsu looked aghast, although whether it was genuine or he was just faking it remained to be seen, "What! Hell no! Why in the world would I order you to do that? Damn it, I'm trying to run this organization while crossing as few moral event horizons as possible. Kidnapping pre-teen girls is not our _modus operandi_; that's not how Hoshikuzu rolls! And didn't I make it clear that the whole "build a weapon to create small pockets of peace in an endless chain of hatred" plan was a dumbass idea from the start."

"Then what do you want me to do with her, pray tell?"

"I just need you to find the girl and convince her to come with you, without any use of force. Once you complete this mission, then I'll have you start rounding up the other jinchuuriki as well."

"The other jinchuuriki? What do you want with all of them?"

The Rikudou Hiraishin scoffed in response, "Well, it's not about what I want, now is it, Nagato-chan. The purpose of gathering these bijuu host, I assure you, is to help further along the plan to achieve peace that I've given you. It's not what I want that matters; this is not my world. This is yours. Like I said before, I can't hand you a utopia on a silver platter. I'm just here to guide you and advise you. And this is my advice…"

"If you find and gather all of these jinchuuriki, then you'll be one step closer to achieving your dream. And I promise you; when we finally reach that stage, then I'll tell you what all this is about. I don't plan on leaving you in the dark forever. It's just not the appropriate time to explain everything right now," finished Uzumaki Choetsu.

A look of resignation appeared on Nagato's face, as he chose to settle for Choetsu's vague explanation, "Fine, I'll place my faith in you once more, Choetsu. I won't ask why you want us to collect the bijuu, but at the same time, I trust that you aren't just leading me on a merry chase for your own amusement. Which is rather funny, because I'm basically trusting you _not_ to do something that I know you love to do."

The blonde-haired time traveler grinned, "Nah! I'm not the kind of person who would screw with someone behind their back…I'm the kind of person who would flat-out tell someone that I'm screwing with them, and continue doing it anyways. So you can trust me on that point."

"I don't see how that assures me, but I'll take what I can get."

"Glad to hear that! Now get your ass in gear, cuz' you've got a mission to complete," said the blonde Rinnegan-user, "Here's a dossier containing any extra info you'll need."

The leader of Hoshikuzu promptly revealed a manila envelop, which was taken out from his cloak, before handing it to the other Uzumaki.

Nagato opened the dossier, briefly skimming through its content, before looking up and saying, "What happens if I can't convince the girl to come with me?"

"If you can't convince her, then you can't convince her. It's as simple as that. Don't force it; I'd rather have you fail the mission than resort to kidnapping her."

Nagato nodded in response, confirming his understanding up Choetsu's orders.

"Well, that's basically all I need to discuss," continued the Rikudou Hiraishin, "Good luck with the mission, remember to say hello to Shizuka-chan for me, and last but not least; if you're ever feeling overly frustrated in a sexual manner, just give me a call and I'll send Konan-chan right on over. Wouldn't want you getting a bad case of blue balls, now wouldn't I…"

And then he vanished with a yellow flash, leaving the scene before poor Nagato could rage at him in his anger.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, a certain princess of Nadeshiko was sulking in her quarters…<p>

"Sigh, when will the author actually give me some scene time instead of just randomly having my name mentioned every other chapter or so to remind the readers that I still exist. Well, I guess that's what I get for being a one-episode filler character…"

Please note: no fourth walls were harmed in the making of this scene. Maybe.

* * *

><p>When Choetsu reappeared, he was greeted by the scowling figures of Konan and Sasori, both garbed in their Hoshikuzu outfit. They were all standing in the middle of a rather generic, non-descript clearing within a Konoha forest; it had been chosen as the designated meeting spot for their current assembly.<p>

The Rikudou Hiraishin gave a wide, shit-eating grin, before speaking, "So, you two…where is that esteemed guest of ours?"

"Turn around, Choetsu-sama," was Sasori's terse answer. Choetsu did so…and was greeted by the perplexed, yet calculating face of one Uchiha Itachi.

"Ah, Mr. Weasel Fan…welcome to Hoshikuzu."

* * *

><p>"If you try to pass me, Kakashi," began Zabuza, as he glared at his silver-haired foe, "I'll just kill the bridge builder. With your girl student trapped in Haku's jutsu and the boy still out cold, they'll be no one to stop me."<p>

Hatake Kakashi was currently stuck between a rock and hard place, as the cliché went; like the former Kiri-nin had said, if he tried to bypass him and save his student Kurama, then Zabuza would just go on ahead and kill Tazuna. But if he stayed here to keep the swordsman occupied, then Kurama would surely die. The Copy-nin desperately tried to think of a solution.

Before he could act, however, a kunai whizzed by his head from behind, careening straight towards Haku's dome of mirrors. Looking back, Kakashi saw that it was a now conscious Sasuke who had thrown the kunai, with a deep scowl on his face and little driblets of blood still running down his nose.

Unfortunately for him, the Ice Release-user was able to detect the incoming projectile and react by phasing half-way out of one of the mirrors, before catching the kunai just as it was about to strike.

Unfortunately for her, the kunai had an exploding tag wrapped around its hilt, which promptly detonated and engulfed Haku's body and a good quarter of the crystal dome in a fiery explosion.

Sasuke smirked with a sense of smug satisfaction in himself, "Hmph; no one humiliates Uchiha Sasuke like that and gets away with it. Did you really think I wouldn't pay you back for what you did to me?"

His smirk lessened somewhat when the smoke cleared, revealing the enemy kunoichi to be alive, albeit in a prone position lying on the ground with her clothes torn and singed in many places. The crystal ice mirrors seemed to be relatively unfazed as well, with the exception of the shattered one that Haku had been in when the explosion went off, showcasing their tremendous durability even in the face of an exploding tag's power.

Zabuza's apprentice slowly dragged herself up into a crouched position, before looking up at her adversary with a glare. Behind her, Kurama was likewise picking herself up from the ground, wincing every now and then from the massive number of cuts and welts now marking her body. Peculiarly, the cuts seemed to be healing at a rapid pace, although this went unnoticed by the vixen.

Sasuke returned his foe's glare, before asking, "How did you survive that? It was a point-blank explosion."

"_Hyouton no Yoroi_ (Ice Release Armor)," stated Haku, "With my bloodline, I can mold Ice chakra into a thin, but extremely resilient layer of crystalline icicle matter around my body that can protect me from any damage. It's my absolute defense."

'_But of course, it's not really all that absolute_,' added Haku in her mind, '_It takes up a lot of chakra to maintain, and hampers my agility somewhat, making it detrimental to my high-speed attack style. Which is why I hardly use it. But they don't need to know that_.'

While Sasuke was focusing his attention on Haku, Zabuza momentarily shifting his own attention from Kakashi to the Uchiha boy, throwing a flurry of shuriken at him from out of the blue. Both Kakashi and Sasuke panicked at the surprise attack, while the latter brought up a kunai in an attempt to defend himself from the fast-moving projectiles.

It proved unnecessary, however, when the shuriken were intercepted in mid-flight by several senbon needles, thrown by the masked Hyouton-user, shocking all who had witnessed the scene.

Zabuza narrowed his eyes at his apprentice, before asking, "What's going on, Haku?"

Without moving, the sex-changed girl replied, "Zabuza-sama…these kids…please allow me to fight them in my own way."

Zabuza had a fleeting look of realization, before recomposing his professional mask, "Ah, I see; so you don't want me to interfere, huh. As usual, you're far too soft."

Haku nodded, glad that she would be allowed to handle her fight while using her own methods, as her master Zabuza turned around and refocused his attention on Kakashi.

Then, Haku formed a half-tiger seal with her right hand before drawing out a tendril of water from a small pouch attached to her right hip. The masked kunoichi molded Hyouton chakra into the water, freezing it into the shape of a short lance-like shard, which she grabbed with her left hand. Taking the icy spear, the fake hunter-nin hurled it at the Uchiha boy, who just barely managed to sidestep the fast-moving projectile.

Seeing an opening, Kurama began the seal sequence for one of her _Katon_ techniques, which she planned to fire through the small gap in the crystal ice dome created by the mirror destroyed by Sasuke's exploding tag earlier.

Before she could unleash it, however, Haku made another half-seal with her fingers, disrupting the Ice Release chakra bonds holding the icy spear she had thrown together and causing it to explode in a burst of liquid behind Sasuke. The resulting watery mass subsequently coalesced into multiple needles of frozen ice, resembling senbon, which were propelled at Sasuke from behind by some invisible force.

Sasuke just barely managed to detect the sneak attack, before focusing chakra to the soles of his feet like the tree climbing exercise and blasting off into the sky. The fast-moving needles continued on regardless, and would have speared Haku herself if she hadn't jumped out of the way, causing her attack to needle Kurama just as she was about to finish her seal sequence.

The girl skidded across the ground from the momentum of the barrage, and was now barring numerous cuts and lacerations across her body from the many icicle senbon that had assaulted her. Haku, meanwhile, landed on the topmost mirror of her crystal ice dome, before phasing back into the reflective surface. Mere instances later, Haku's image was once again reflected across the various ice mirrors, ensnaring Kurama in her jutsu.

Sasuke landed several meters away from the dome, and immediately thought up a plan to help Kurama, who was being lacerated by Haku's blindingly-quick strikes once again.

'_From that level of attack, Kurama should be dead by now. But she isn't, obviously. The enemy doesn't seem to be aiming for any major vital areas, instead simply inflicting superficial damage. But why? Does it have something to do with what that Zabuza guy said earlier; about her being too soft?'_

'_And what kind of jutsu is it, for that matter? From here, it just looks like Kurama is being massacred from all directions by a storm of black blurs. Could that really be the masked girl's own movement speed, or is it some kind of trick with a clone technique. But why the mirrors; do they play some special role or purpose for her attacks_.'

'_If anything, I know I'm safe from her attacks out here. They seem to be limited to within the dome of mirrors, which just further supports my theory that the mirrors are the key to her speed. I also noticed that she had to stop her attack and physically separated herself from a mirror to stop my kunai earlier. I think I can take advantage of this weakness by attacking from the outside, and hopefully create an opening to let Kurama escape._'

Sasuke, finished with his internal monologue, then went on to complete a familiar sequence of seals, ending on the tiger, _'But before my plan gets too complicated, let's try this first_.'

"_Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu_ (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique)!" exclaimed Sasuke as he breathed a massive fireball from his mouth, aiming straight for Haku's dome of crystal ice mirrors. The flying, infernal mass of fiery chakra engulfed the dome, searing it, assaulting it, burning it with the heat and fury of a miniature sun.

The dome was enveloped within a firestorm that would have liquefied ordinary ice or even solid rock within mere seconds…but the frozen, chakra-begotten water that composed Haku's crystalline mirrors was doubtlessly made of far stronger stuff. They remained intact, even after enduring the burning power of the Uchiha Clan's signature technique.

Sasuke gave a grunt in frustration, '_Damn, I was hoping that my fire ninjutsu would be enough to melt the ice. Looks like I'll have to find something else. But what? If those mirrors are strong enouigh to withstand a Goukakyu, there won't be much else in my arsenal that's up for the job_.'

Kurama remained oblivious to this, trapped within the dome of mirrors with no hope of escape. Her world was one of pain, of torturous, excruciating pain, as the masked enemy transformed her body into a human pincushion, marking her skin with countless, innumerable cuts and scratches, and leaving her one-piece dress, burgundy and black with a yellow spiral on the left shoulder, in a mutilated, tattered condition.

'_Why doesn't she just kill me_,' was one such thought going through the red-haired vixen's mind as the storm of pain continued bombarding her poor, tired body. The part of her that was not like the rest, that was weak and enfeebled, without the fiery will that made the rest of her who she was, cried out for it all to end.

But the part of her that was strong, emblazoned with the impossible determination that ran through the rest of her amazing family, decried and rejected this. She would endure! She would survive! No mask-wearing, big-breasted bimbo of an ice queen would change that.

But it just hurt so much, and what could she possibly do, in the face of such overwhelming _speed_. Like her dad the legendary Yellow Flash would always say in their occasional father-daughter training sessions (which she cherished); _speed destroys_.

And this Ice-wielder's otherworldly speed and agility was going to utterly destroy her, if something didn't change. Oh, how she wished her brother was here. This level of speed was probably nothing to him.

But she couldn't rely on him. No. She was stronger than that. She just had to figure out a way. The _Kiiroi Senko_'s blood ran through her veins; the blood of the fastest man in the world. She would find a way.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere…<p>

"Who the hell are you?"

"Me? You can call me…Kakuzu," said the intimidating giant, "And you must be the Yondaime's only son, Namikaze Naruto I presume."

"What of it?" replied Naruto, narrowing his eyes in contempt. This man, Kakuzu or whatever, was getting in the way of him and the bridge where the rest of his team was guarding the old man Tazuna. He didn't appreciate that…not one bit.

"I heard you're pretty good for your age," said the bounty hunter, "But that doesn't really matter to me. No, I'm just here for a quick buck. Your ransom will reward me handsomely."

Naruto grit his teeth; he knew what this man was after. Taking out his signature Konoha Chakra Blade, the son of the legendary Fourth Hokage prepared himself for battle.

If only he knew the reputation of the legendary S-Rank _nuke-nin_ in front of him…then he would realize exactly how hopeless his situation was.

TBC

A.N. For any of you wondering why Sasuke succumbed so easily to Haku's feminine wiles, please note that my version of Sasuke is not the revenge-obessesed eunuch he is in canon, since the Uchiha Clan Massacre never occured in this timeline. Therefore, the Sasuke of my fanfic is much nicer, more well-adjusted, and more of what you would expect from your average pre-pubescent boy. And plus, I'm of the opinion that Haku's new boobs are so divine that even canon Sasuke would fall for them.

Speaking of Haku; the reason why she has so many new jutsu that don't exist in canon (Hyouton no Yoroi, Erupting Spike Bed, the ability to create spears of ice from even a small source of water), is because this version of Haku has a more or less different backstory from canon, which will explain why she's more powerful. Not only that, but the creative side of me enjoys making up random jutsu, hehe.

Finally, for all of those who are worried that Naruto stands no chance against Kakuzu, please rest assured; I know what I'm doing...

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll try to pump out another ASAP, but I'm not promising anything. Read and review, people, and maybe it might happen faster!


	28. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but lawsuits and copyright infringement will never hurt me...but just in case, I'll play it safe and say "I don't own Naruto!"

Author's Note: GUESS WHOSE BACK! Damn college and the tremendous work load -_-

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 27: The Worst Possible Scenario

"Have you found him, Makoto?" said the man wearing a grey wife-beater over a short-sleeved fishnet shirt. He had light brownish-grey hair with long spikes combed backwards, a small goatee, and a Taikigakure _hitae-ate_ on his forehead.

On his back was a large black gourd. It was covered with numerous seals and a thick rope wrapped around its mid-section.

"He's definitely in this area. I can feel his vile chakra even from here," said the sensory ninja he had addressed. A kunoichi garbed in a black turtleneck; she was a ginger with long, flowing hair and azure eyes. On her forehead was the same metal band worn by her comrade.

"Good, that means our sources were accurate. You know the plan, right?"

"Yes, Fukuzo," replied the sensor-nin, "Get in, release the _jinchuuriki, _and then get the fuck out as fast as possible. But is it really going to work? I mean, what if he survives? He's a legendary shinobi after all."

"Are you kidding me? No one short of a kage can survive against a rampaging tailed beast. The demon brat will do her job," said Fukuzo, while tapping the gourd on his back.

Makoto was not convinced, "Well, I heard this guy fought the Shodai Hokage and survived. And even if the demon kills him, what then? We'll just have a jinchuuriki out in the open, which is in some ways worse than having that S-Rank on the loose."

"Geez, Makoto. Didn't you pay attention during the briefing? After releasing the beast, we're supposed to call for the village's elite sealing team, who will handle the demon. They're trained specifically for that purpose, after all."

Makoto sighed, "If you say so, Fukuzo. Let's just get this over with."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, hundreds of meters up in the sky, a lone figure was defying gravity itself. Dressed in a high-collared black cloak covered in star fields, galaxies, and constellations, the figure floated in mid-air, as if suspended in zero-gravity.<p>

His name was Uzumaki Nagato, or as they call him in the Hidden Rain Village: _Lord Pain_.

Being acquainted with Uzumaki Choetsu was not all bad, apparently, as Nagato could attest to. He had taught the former cripple more about his mythical _dojutsu_, such as how to achieve true flight using the Rinnegan's Deva Path.

If one were to ask as to why the crimson-haired, self-proclaimed god was floating nearly a thousand feet in the air, the answer would be simple: he was on a mission. To find the host of the Nanabi, a young girl named Fu.

And he just did. According to his acute sensory abilities, the female jinchuuriki was currently several hundred meters below him. It was time for him to progress to the next stage.

"_Kuchiyose no Jutsu_!" exclaimed Nagato, as he brought his palms crashing together. A cloud of smoke appeared in front of him, and from the smoke cloud emerged a giant green bird with a yellow, drill-shaped beak, numerous chakra rods sticking out of its body, and Nagato's Rinnegan present in its eyeballs. On top of it was a man, or what appeared to be one. The figure was dressed in the same cloak as Nagato, but had deathly pale skin, long ginger hair tied up in a ponytail, a black mark across his nose, and numerous chakra rods sticking out of his skin like piercings. His eyes, like the bird's eyes, were also copies of Nagato's Rinnegan.

Knowing automatically what to do, _Chikushodou_, the Animal Path of Pain, directed his summoned bird to fly downwards, heading straight for the mission target's location.

He would not fail.

* * *

><p>Despite his confidant display and firm stance, Namikaze Naruto in truth was very much afraid on the inside. The giant of a man he was facing was probably the most intimidating presence he had ever seen or felt.<p>

Even though he was no sensor, Naruto could literally feel the massive chakra and killing intent rolling off the figure in waves; he was clearly not trying to hide it. The man had on a grey hood with a black mask that covered the bottom half of his face like Kakashi, and the only thing that could been seen of his facial features were his unusual eyes; green irises with no pupils and glaringly pinkish-red scelera, like photo negatives, that seem to chill one's very soul with a mere glance.

But Naruto couldn't afford to be intimidated any longer. He had to get to the bridge; his team could be in danger, and if something happened to them and Naruto wasn't there to stop it, he knew he would feel guilty for the rest of his life.

So, with renewed determination, the son of the Yellow Flash charged forward with the speed of a lightning bolt, becoming a golden blur as he rushed the bounty hunter. But the Namikaze's _Shunshin no Jutsu_ proved to be inadequate as Kakuzu easily sidestepped the charge. Noticing this, Naruto skidded to a halt a few meters away, before pivoting on his right foot in order to turn. He quickly shunshin'd again in an attempt to catch the former Taki-nin off guard, but his attempt failed again when Kakuzu spun his body around, casually evading the attack. But it didn't end there; using the momentum from his spin, Kakuzu unleashed a devastating punch that was aimed for the blonde speedster.

It was only the fact that Naruto was still speeding away in mid-shunshin that prevented him from taking a direct hit. Instead, the punch was a glancing blow that still proved to be deadly, smashing into Naruto's shoulder and sending the boy tumbling away. His chakra blade flew from his grip before becoming embedded in the ground a few feet away from where Naruto's body stopped tumbling.

"Damn, what a…what a heavy punch," muttered Naruto under his breath as he struggled to get up. He was pretty sure that if he had taken a direct hit, he would probably be down for the count already.

Seeing his prey upright again, Kakuzu said, "Your speed is impressive…for a kid. But when you reach my level, speed like that isn't nearly enough to catch me off-guard. It doesn't matter if you're faster than me, when I can comfortably react to your every move."

Naruto grit his teeth in frustration, '_Damn, he's right. Linear attacks aren't gonna work from here on out. I gotta use something less…predictable_.'

Then, the Hokage's son blasted off again, but this time there was no sign of the burst of chakra that usually accompanied the Body Flicker Technique. No; this time, it was just pure foot speed. Next thing he knew, Kakuzu was surrounded by a rapidly revolving whirlwind of dust, as Naruto literally ran a circle around him.

'_This isn't Shunshin no Jutsu_,' thought Kakuzu, '_A shunshin is only good for linear movement, but the brat's moving in a circle around me. Is he this fast with just his normal running speed_?'

The blonde-haired twelve-year old smirked as he continued to run around Kakuzu. His weight training had definitely paid off; now he could blitz an opponent without having to rely on shunshin all the time, although he was still faster with it.

"So, are you just going to run around me in a circle all day, or are you actually going to do something," taunted Kakuzu, "Don't waste my time, brat. Time is money, after all."

"As you wish," replied Naruto with a grin, as he charged at Kakuzu from the circle…and was promptly close-lined by the bounty hunter's suddenly outstretched arm. Kakuzu hadn't even bothered to look as he had done this, and the force of the collision sent Naruto tumbling away in the opposite direction.

Naruto was in a daze, as his head throbbed with pain. Nonetheless, he pushed himself to get up and face the enemy, despite the hopelessness of his situation. It seemed that his speed had failed him, for what was likely the first time in his career as a shinobi.

It was time to change tactics.

"If my speed isn't going to work anymore," said Naruto as flashed through a couple seals, "Maybe a little _ninjutsu_ might do the trick. _Fuuton: Daitoppa _(Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)!"

Using one of the new Wind techniques that he had learned from the scroll Kakashi had given him, the blonde speedster unleashed a powerful gust of wind from his two outstretched palms, aiming for the implacable giant he was fighting. Kakuzu simply brought up two arms to guard, allowing the gale to push him back a few feet, but doing no more than that.

Naruto grit his teeth in frustration, and was just about to start another seal sequence when Kakuzu beat him to the punch.

"If it's a ninjutsu game that you want to play, I'm afraid that you will lose," said Kakuzu as he turned around, revealing the four masks on his back. All of their mouths opened up with a click. Seeing this, Naruto's eyes widened as a massive elemental deluge of wind, water, fire, and lighting was unleashed from the four masks, demolishing the section of the forest Naruto was standing in.

When it was over, the masks closed once again and Kakuzu turned around to admire his handiwork. There was now a swathe of destruction carved in front of him, hundreds of meters long and pocketed by residual traces of water, flames, and electricity. But there was no Naruto in sight.

Shifting his head slightly, Kakuzu caught a glimpse of the blonde _genin_ in his peripheral vision. He had just flickered on top of a tree branch, looking haggard but relatively uninjured. It seems his speed hadn't completely failed him, at least on the defensive end.

'_Who the hell is this guy_?' thought Naruto, from atop the branch, '_He just used four of the five elements in that last attack. I wasn't always the best listener in class at the academy, but I'm pretty sure that's considered borderline impossible_.'

Apparently, the academy was wrong. Now Naruto was starting to sweat in anxiety. Nothing he did was having an effect on this monster. And Naruto was pretty sure that he hadn't even really exerted himself just yet. The man was still toying with him.

The Namikaze subconsciously brought his fingers to the area below his neck, feeling the presence of the precious sapphire necklace just below the layer of his jacket. It was the counterpart to his sister Kurama's ruby necklace, and was a birthday gift to him from his father. Like his sister's necklace, it also had the _jutsu shiki_ for his father's Flying Thunder God technique engraved on it.

It would activate automatically if the Hokage's son was put in a life-threatening situation, but Naruto could still trigger it at will by sending his chakra into it.

He was debating whether or not to use it, based on how bleak the situation was. The enemy bounty hunter just seemed utterly unstoppable, and if Naruto couldn't defeat him, he would get captured and held for ransom.

That was not an option. Not again.

* * *

><p>ANBU Commander Uchiha Itachi didn't live a normal life. Not by most standards he didn't. And as a consequence, he didn't have very many normal days. Just earlier today, he had helped in the assassination of a former Konoha elder and councilman who had turned traitor (of course, Itachi was the one who had dealt the final blow, but he humbly considered his Hokage to have done most of the work).<p>

A few days ago, he had led a few Leaf ANBU in an operation to snuff out several terrorist cells of missing-nin, in which he encountered a mad clay bomber who would constantly spout nonsense about how "art was an explosion". He succumbed to Itachi's _genjutsu_ rather quickly, nonetheless, and had nearly blown himself up.

A few months ago, his long-time friend Inuzuka Hana confessed her undying love for him, which he accepted almost immediately, and now they have been secretly going out ever since. Although, that example is pretty normal as far as things go.

And five years ago, when he was barely thirteen years old, Itachi had been forced to kill his best friend, Uchiha Shisui, due to a sinister conspiracy that had been undoubtedly masterminded by Danzo himself. Unfortunately, the Yondaime wasn't able to acquire the needed evidence to incriminate the old war hawk until just recently.

No, ANBU Commander Uchiha Itachi most certainly did not live a normal life, and most certainly experienced many abnormal and extraordinary days. But as far as unusual days went…this one took the cake.

"Ah! You must be the one-and-only Mr. Weasel Fan! You sir, are absolutely legendary!" exclaimed Uzumaki Choetsu as he enthusiastically shook Itachi's hand, causing a look of bewilderment and discomfort to appear on the Uchiha's face, "Quick! What's your opinion on purple nail polish?"

"I…I don't see how that's-…"

"Relevant? Well of course it's relevant! Oh, and before I forget; I'm a major fan of how you pretended to go insane and slaughtered your own clan for the sake of Konoha."

"W-What!" cried out Itachi, horrified.

"Oops, my mistake; I'm confusing timelines again. You're not nearly as morally ambiguous as that other you."

"I'm not going to even bother," deadpanned Itachi. It had been like this since the eccentric blonde Hokage-lookalike had arrived, accompanied by the light of a familiar yellow flash. Itachi had quickly deduced that the man was the Yondaime's so-called brother that everyone had been talking about, but what confused him was the reason why this man was here.

Another shocking aspect about the man was his strange, otherworldly eyes; azure, concentric circles surrounding a pure white pupil. They seemed familiar, and Itachi wondered where he had seen or heard of these eyes before.

"A wise decision, Itachi-san," said one of the cloaked figures behind the "brother" of Namikaze Minato. The two cloaked figure's he had met had now foregone their straw hats, revealing their faces to Itachi. The one who had just spoken was a woman, like Itachi had guessed, and had exotic blue hair and a piercing on her chin.

The other cloaked figure didn't seem to be a puppet like Itachi had predicted (although there was something extremely off about him still), and possessed sandy red hair. If Itachi had to guess, the man was most likely from the Land of Wind, maybe even Suna itself.

Tired of being confused, as it was a state of mind that did not suit the genius prodigy very much, Itachi said, "Excuse me, but…who the hell are you people, and what exactly is this "_Hoshikuzu_" you mentioned?"

"Oh dear me! Where are my manners!" exclaimed Choetsu while making a face, "How could I forget the introductions! My name is Uzumaki Choetsu, and the official story is that I'm the Hokage's brother."

Itachi's eyes narrowed in a glimmer of suspicion at this, before he asked, "Official story? You mean like a cover up? In that case, then what's the real story?"

"I'm glad you asked. You see, while I am known publicly as Namikaze Minato's twin brother," continued the Yondaime look-alike, "I am in truth his time travelling grandson from the future who has ascended to a higher plane of existence, becoming omnipotent in the process. You may call me the _Rikudou Hiraishin_, or Choetsu-sama if you wish."

Itachi's brow rose.

"I'm Sasori," said the red-haired man, "_Akasuna no Sasori_, to be exact. You may know me as the most dangerous missing-nin in Sunagakure history."

Itachi's brow rose even higher.

"And my name is Konan," said the blue-haired woman in a stoic voice, "I am the ambassador of Amegakure no Sato, where I am the village god's right hand, known by the title of _Lady Angel_."

Itachi's brow rose as high as it could physical reach on his forehead.

"And we are all members of Hoshikuzu," finished Choetsu, "An organization dedicated to the realization of a genuine peace for the world and the creation of a true, perfect utopia. And we want you to join us."

Dead silence, as Itachi simply stared at the three Hoshikuzu members like they were crazy or something. Which was probably true in the case of at least one of them.

"Uh-huh. And you expect me to believe this, how?" asked Itachi, breaking the silence.

Choetsu shook his head, "No I don't expect you to believe me. Not really. At least not right away. But maybe after a little demonstration…"

The Rikudou Hiraishin snapped his fingers…and then the entire world exploded.

Or at least that's what it looked like from Itachi's viewpoint. One moment he had been standing on solid ground, in the middle of a forest clearing somewhere just outside of Konoha proper. The next, he was floating in outer space, gazing upon a blue-green marble-like orb covered in wisps of white clouds, which he instinctively knew to be his home world, before the aforementioned orb suddenly exploded in a catastrophic blossoming of apocalyptic fire, expanding outward like a shockwave travelling at a good percentage of the speed of light.

Itachi gaped in complete and utter shock; it was a state of confusion and bewilderment that could not possibly be described with words alone. He couldn't believe the image he had just seen with his own eyes, and so he activated his trusted Sharingan. It proved futile, however, when the cursed eyes of the Uchiha clan failed to register the image before him as anything but cold, harsh reality .

Just the thought in his mind that what he had just seen was not an illusion, not a _genjutsu_,but in fact the undeniable truth, was far too much for the seventeen-year old to bear. His mind broke down, as the gears in his head stopped spinning. No amount of training or experience could have ever prepared him to deal with the destruction of his entire planet. Nothing he had learned as a shinobi, as the Commander of the ANBU Force of Konohagakure no Sato itself, was at all helpful in his attempt to cope with the current situation.

His world was gone.

And the quickly expanding light of its dying embers was gradually approaching him, getting closer and closer and closer still, until Itachi was engulfed in the explosion, blinded by searing radiance. Then, luminosity made way for the visions, which assaulted Itachi's mind with countless, rapid-fire images.

It felt like he was in his own _Tsukiyomi_. He saw many things; the death of the Yondiame Hokage and his wife as they sealed the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox in a blonde-haired baby with whisker-marks on his cheek.

The massacre of his entire family, the Uchiha clan, at the hands of his younger, 13-year old self, clad in his ANBU armor as he felled his own parents with a katana. The light of the full moon, basking him in the glow of a lunatic as he was confronted by his seven-year old little brother, whose love for him turned to hatred.

Next, a vision of the blonde-haired baby from the first vision, now a twelve-year old wearing an orange jumpsuit and a Leaf forehead protector, as he fought against an older version of his little brother at a mountainous valley filled with water and two colossal statues of the founders of Konoha.

Then, that same blonde, three years older and wearing a red, flame-patterned cloak, as he fought against six figures dressed in black cloaks with red clouds on them. The six figures all bore numerous piercings and had the same eyes as the Rikudou Hiraishin, but of a different mercury color, while all of them but one possessed ginger hair.

Next, his little brother again, now a teenager as he tried his hand against five of the most powerful individuals in the shinobi nations. Despite wielding the power of the Mangekyo Sharingan, the hate-filled avenger came up short and was overwhelmed, nearly dying only to be saved by the sudden appearance of a man with an orange, spiral mask, who declared war on the entire world.

Visions of the war, a horrific, apocalyptic war, came next as thousands upon thousands of shinobi from all the nations fought and died against an implacable army of white, plant-like humanoids. The climax of the Great War was reached when the blonde-haired young man, now wreathed in a cloak of golden flames with the full power of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox on his side, came face to face with Itachi's little brother, now wielding the ultimate power of Susanoo, for one final time.

War made way for peace, as the image of the new Hokage, the blonde boy who was now a man, appeared before him. Dressed in a cloak similar to the Yondaime, but orange with black patterned flames, a black _jonin _vest, and matching pants, the Rokudaime emitted an aura of charisma as he watched over his village, with Itachi's once-little-but-not-so-little- brother-anymore by his side, devoid of his former hatred. Behind him, gazing lovingly at the back of the Hokage, was a beautiful woman with raven hair and white eyes, holding in her arms a little babe wrapped in swaddling cloth.

The baby grew up, becoming first a child as he ventured into the arts of the shinobi, and then into a young man as his power and will matured, becoming as strong as if not stronger than his illustrious father. Decades later, it was now he who held the position of Hokage, as his father was long departed to realms unknown.

Itachi knew he was reaching the end of the visions, as they started coming at a heightened pace. He saw the Eighth Hokage seal himself under Konoha, passing the mantle of the Will of Fire to another. He saw the world grow darker as conflict arose once more, exploding into a great war like never before. He saw the Hachidaime return, prepared to save his world from destruction. He saw a beautiful princess, like a goddess amongst woman, as she fought for peace alongside the former Hokage. He saw the end of the war, as the former Hokage slayed the beautiful princess-now-empress, softly crying as he did so. And he saw the peace that came after; true peace, genuine peace. A utopia of white light and crystal spires.

And then the visions stopped.

He was left floating in space, once again gazing upon the image of his destroyed home world.

"**And now, I shall undo what has been done**," said an omnipresent voice. And just like that, the world which Itachi called home was restored, reassembled from the enormous, planet-size debris cloud as if time had reversed itself.

"**Now do you believe me**?" said the omnipresent voice again, booming from all-directions. The Uchiha knew without a doubt that this voice belonged to Uzumaki Choetsu, the man, no, the god who called himself the Rikudou Hiraishin. And even then, the term god didn't even seem to do him any justice.

Still in a state of shock, Itachi wasn't able to do anything but nod weakly, before he heard Choetsu's voice give an "**Excellent**!" in reply, and then his vision was blinded by pure, white light for the umpteenth time.

When the light faded, Itachi was once again standing on solid ground, in the middle of a forest clearing somewhere just outside of Konoha proper. Nothing had changed, and one could even dare to say that what Itachi had just witnessed was nothing but a dream or an illusion.

But Itachi knew with his every being, down to the last cell, that what he had just seen, the death of an entire world by the will of a single, transcendent entity, was no illusion. It was real.

"So, Mr. Weasel Fan," continued Choetsu, "Care to listen to our proposal now?"

Even now, Itachi wasn't capable of responding in any manner but nodding. He was still trapped in a stupor, not even aware that the flow of time around them had stopped. Neither of Choetsu's fellow Hoshikuzu members were exempt from this, as they too were frozen in stasis.

"I'm sorry about the over-the-top demonstration. I was too lazy to think of anything more subtle and elaborate, so I just decided to go with something so outrageous and jaw-dropping that it would get you to believe my words instantly. Also, I hope you don't mind the obligatory time stop. These two have already heard what I'm about to tell you, and I don't really need them interrupting. Now, let me begin…"

And so, the Shodai Kamikage told the Konoha ANBU Commander his story, or at least the rest of it that Itachi hadn't already seen in the visions, as well as his explanation of the Hoshikuzu organization and its goals. It was nothing new; just everything he had informed the other Hoshikuzu members of during their first few meetings.

At the end of it, Itachi had adopted a look of deep thought, having recovered somewhat from his earlier stupor. He would never truly recover from it, unfortunately. No ordinary human (ordinary in comparison to someone like the Rikudou Hiraishin) could do so after seeing what he had just seen.

"So, those visions I saw," started Itachi, ending the long silence, "they were from the alternate timeline that you come from. The one where I…I killed my clan."

"Don't worry about that, Itachi-chan. You shouldn't dwell on the actions of your alternate selves. I mean, there's a parallel universe out there where you're secretly a transvestite crossdresser with a massive and unhealthy obsession with Hatake Kakashi's penis, and another universe out there where you ran away from the village at a young age and lived in the forest wearing nothing but a loincloth with a one-armed monkey as your best friend. Trust me; I've been to all of them."

"I really didn't need to know that…"

"And I really don't give a fuck."

Itachi sighed, "Anyways, this plan of yours to achieve peace, using this organization you've established which you now want me to join…I'm afraid I can't accept."

"Why not?"

A brief pause, as Itachi searched for a way to word his response, "Look, it's not that I don't believe you. How can I not, after the visions you showed me. You not only demonstrated the immense power you possess by destroying and rebuilding this entire planet, but you showed me that you've already succeeded in creating a utopia, and that you're merely repeating the same plan that you used before, just adjusted to the circumstances. I don't doubt that you can succeed. But as much as I want peace, as much as I want to join Hoshikuzu…my loyalties lie with Konoha and Konoha only."

"I had a feeling you would say that," replied the Kamikage, "You see, the reason why I want you to join is specifically because of your loyalty to the village."

"What do you mean?" asked Itachi in a curious tone.

"If you must know, I already discussed all of this with Minato-_jiji _beforehand, and he agreed with and actually recommended your membership, as a matter of fact. If you think I'm lying about that, ask him about it as soon as you can," explained Choetsu, confusing Itachi even more, "But anyways, I'm not planning on running this organization forever, or even for that much longer. I'm just making sure it starts off on the right foot. Pretty soon, I'm going to be turning over leadership of Hoshikuzu to Nagato, one of the members and the leader of Amegakure."

"Your role in Hoshikuzu is not only to assist the organization in completing its goals via the resources available to you as ANBU Commander of Konoha, but also to act as a check on Hoshikuzu, to make sure they don't become too extreme or digress too much from the intended purpose of the organization. Think of it in this way; your presence in the organization is a deterrent against any measures Nagato as future leader might take that could conceivably threaten Konoha."

Itachi nodded, "I understand what you're saying. I guess if Minato-sensei approves and if it's for the good of both Konoha and the world, then there's no harm in me joining. But I hope you forgive me when I say that I'm still a little unsure about this. Allow me to consider it for some time while consulting Minato-sensei, and then I'll give you my answer. "

"Of course, of course; jumping into this without thinking it through is the last thing I want you to do, after all," answered Choetsu as he gave Itachi a Cheshire grin.

And then with a snap of his fingers, the flow of time resumed.

* * *

><p>After a bit of thinking, Naruto decided that he wouldn't call for his father just yet. His dad was the Hokage, and he had more important things to do than babysit his kids all the time. Naruto didn't want to bother him when he felt that there was still a chance he could handle this himself.<p>

And more importantly, Naruto hated having to rely on anyone's power besides his own.

Nevertheless, the sapphire necklace would activate if Naruto was placed in a life threatening situation, regardless of his will.

Flashing through a set of seals, Naruto began molding his Wind chakra, gathering it into a miniature cyclone-like ball in his palm, "_Wind Release: Spiralling Wind Ball_!"

Holding the wind ball up to his mouth, Naruto blew on it with great force, propelling it forwards at Kakuzu. The ball went flying at him with immense velocity, forcing the kage-level shinobi to dodge as the jutsu collided with the ground, striking up an explosion of debris.

"So, you still want to play this game, huh," muttered Kakuzu after dodging the Wind Release technique. Forming his own series of hand seals, the legendary shinobi declared, "_Suiton: Gofu _(Water Release: Five Seals)!"

One of the masks on his back opened up, and a deluge of water erupted from it. The water shaped itself into multiple tendrils of liquid, like watery tentacles emerging from Kakuzu's back. The tentacles rapidly converged on Naruto, but he jumped from the branch to evade, before doing a flip in mid-air and taking out a kunai.

After his Fuuton training with the scrolls that Kakashi had given him, Naruto had improved his nature transformation to the point where he could use chakra flow without a specialized chakra blade. It wasn't as effective, unfortunately, but it removed his reliance on the Konoha Chakra Blade he always carried around with him.

The training seemed to have paid off, as Naruto began streaming Wind Release chakra through the ordinary kunai he had taken out, before cutting through several incoming tendrils with the new blade of wind. When he landed on the ground, Naruto weaved his way through several attacking water tentacles, moving like a flickering blur as he did so, before cutting through one last tentacle and blasting off with a shunshin.

He sped past Kakuzu like a rocket, aiming to put some distance between himself and the unstoppable bounty hunter. Kakuzu was quick to react as usual, and unleashed another barrage of fast-moving water tentacles in his direction.

Sensing the attack, Naruto skidded to a halt, turned around, and faced the incoming tentacles with a look of determination on his whiskered face. Then, while bracing his foot against the ground, Naruto released a burst of chakra from his feet, disappearing in a yellow flash.

The water tentacles promptly impacted against the spot that Naruto was previously occupying, smashing against the ground and causing an explosion of debris. Kakuzu observed the resulting dust cloud, unsure of whether his jutsu connected or not.

He got his answer a few seconds later, when Naruto reappeared a few feet behind him in a flicker of yellow light.

"_Raiton: Gian _(Lightning Release: False Darkness)!" exclaimed Kakuzu after finishing a hand seal sequence. Hearing this, Naruto turned around just as another one of the masks on Kakuzu's back opened, and then azure electricity began building up in its mouth. Reacting quickly, Naruto finished his own quick set of seals, just barely managing to put up his _Fuuton: Shikujinheki _(Wind Release: Vacuum Encampment Wall), which blocked the incoming lighting strike.

It was only thanks to his elemental advantage that Naruto's barrier wasn't instantly overwhelmed. Instead, the spiraling wall of wind diffused most of the electricity's power before failing. Unfortunately, Naruto was hit with the excess and sent flying backwards into a tree.

"I'm done playing around. Drawing this out any longer just to satisfy my own curiosity is bad business," said Kakuzu while turning around as he unwound the stitches binding his right arm to his forearm. Then, he held his arm up with his palm facing in Naruto's direction before extending it, grabbing Naruto by the neck from a distance.

Naruto, still in a state of literal shock (from the Raiton), was caught off-guard and gave an audible gasp as Kakuzu reeled him in. When Kakuzu's arm was reattached to his forearm, the bounty hunter sewed the stitches back together before applying pressure to his target's neck, in the hope of choking him unconscious.

Naruto brought both hands to his neck and began struggling desperately to pry Kakuzu's fingers off, but the masked man's grip was too strong for the twelve-year old to overcome. The blonde felt his awareness slipping as a lightheaded feeling took hold of his mind, becoming stronger and more disorienting as the lack of oxygen assaulted his body.

He wouldn't last much longer.

* * *

><p>"How close are we?"<p>

"Within 50 meters of him, give or take. You think its close enough, Fukuzo?"

"It should be. The last thing we want is to be too close," answered Makoto's teammate, "I think it's time to proceed with the next stage of the mission."

Makoto nodded, "Release the demon."

Fukuzo nodded back as he unslinged the gourd on his back. He set the black gourd on the ground before beginning a long sequence of hand seals, molding the chakra in his body as he did so.

"_Nanagyo no Mayonako Kaijin _(Midnight of Seven Elements Unseal)!"

* * *

><p>"Stop struggling, brat, we both know that it's futile," taunted Kakuzu as he continued to choke the Yondaime's only son. The blonde speedster had been resisting for over a minute now, but that was solely because Kakuzu was applying less pressure to avoid breaking the pre-teen's neck.<p>

"…g-give…give up," stuttered Naruto as he tried to speak while his windpipe was being constricted.

"You want to give up?"

"N-No…you…you g-give up…on me…giving up," said the Hokage's son confidently before removing one hand from the task of trying to pry Kakuzu's fingers off his neck, before creating a spiraling sphere of azure chakra in his palm. The blonde determinator silently gave his thanks to Kakashi, who had taught him how to perfect his one-handed Rasengan. This would've never worked about a week ago.

Kakuzu's eyes widened as he witnessed the ball of energy form in his target's right hand. The bounty hunter was stunned for two reasons: one; this twelve-year old boy was somehow capable of using one of the legendary techniques created by his father, the Yondaime Hokage, and two; said technique was barreling straight for his chest right this instant.

The S-Rank missing-nin brought up his free hand in an attempt to deflect the incoming attack, and also activated his _Doton: Domu _(Earth Release: Earth Sphere) technique, which would harden his skin with Earth chakra, hopefully to the point where it could survive the impact of a Rasengan. He doubted that, as the Rasengan was not legendary for nothing, but he was banking on the hope that he could deflect the jutsu with his free hand, or at least defect enough of it to result only in a glancing blow.

Alas, the Rasengan never even had a chance to connect, as a sudden, massive, earsplitting explosion detonated behind Kakuzu, startling the two as the expanding debris cloud from the explosion engulfed them both.

* * *

><p>Namikaze Minato sighed as he took note of the massive amount of paperwork that had somehow compiled on his desk in the short amount of time he was speaking with Kushina. His wife had just made a major breakthrough in her research of Uchiha Kagami's <em>fuinjutsu <em>scroll, and had told him all about it when he had gone to check up on her.

That was probably one of the reasons why he loved her so much. Besides Jiraiya, she was probably the only person in the world whom he could have a deep, meaningful, and engaging conversation about sealing techniques of all things with.

Oh, and of course the sex was great too. And her cooking. And her gorgeous red hair, and how could he forget her enormous-…okay, now Minato was just going off on a tangent.

Anyways, the Fourth Hokage of the Leaf was just about to create a shadow clone for the purpose of handling all of this annoying paperwork, when a beautiful, majestic, and otherworldly voice chimed in behind him.

"You and your wife are tampering with a power beyond your comprehension, mortal," said the voice, "I highly suggest that you stop."

Startled, but outwardly composed, the legendary _Kiiroi Senko_ turned around, only to find a woman standing in front of him, staring out over his village from the enormous panoramic windows of his office, with her back turned towards him. She had long, gorgeous, silken locks of jet black hair, and when she finally turned around…Minato's breath was taken away.

Minato loved his wife. He loved her with all of his being, down to the smallest, most insignificant atom. However, if there was ever a time where Minato had even the slightest desire to cheat on Kushina, even as just a stray thought passing through the back of his mind, now would be the time. Because this woman, if she was one, was the most beautiful he had ever had the privilege of laying eyes upon.

And he didn't feel guilty about that, not one bit. That was how drop-dead gorgeous she was; so damn gorgeous that even the ever-noble Namikaze Minato didn't feel the least bit guilty or ashamed that the idea of cheating on his wife actually appealed to him at the moment.

Another reason he didn't feel ashamed was because he was one-hundred percent sure that if Kushina herself was here with him at moment, gazing upon this elegant beau as he was, she would immediately change her sexual orientation.

The woman, if she really was one, was indescribable. It was basically one of those "you have to be there" moments. The best Minato could manage was to say that she had the softest, longest, most radiant looking raven hair ever, a beyond perfect figure that could make any non-asexual creature drool fountains, pale alabaster skin that reminded one of the purest, richest ivory, eyes that shone like the sun, and of course, underneath her elegant white-and-gold kimono were what could only be described as twin spheres of paradise.

They were certified weapons of mass destruction, in Minato's mind. Unveiling them in all their heavenly glory would surely destroy a million men, as they all died from either a combination of massive blood loss or spontaneous, never-ending orgasms.

"W-who are…who are you. An-and wha-what are yo-you doing… in here?" stuttered Minato, as he struggled to keep a straight face. There was most certainly a bit of drool running down from the side of his mouth.

"Who am I?" echoed the goddess, "My name is Amaterasu, but you may call me _Kami-sama_. And as for what my purpose is here…"

"…_I've come to kill you_."

And in that very instant, Minato changed from a drooling, stuttering, warm-blooded bearer of the Y-chromosome to the legendary Yellow Flash, Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato. Faster than even a Sharingan could track, the Fourth brought his arm up, before forming a Rasengan in his palm.

But then there was a sudden flash of yellow light, and it wasn't from Minato. Next thing he knew, a powerful force had slammed into him as his vision was blinded by the flash. Minato was sent flying, careening through the air like a rag doll until his back slammed against a wall.

Before even his ridiculously fast and superhuman reflexes could even process what had just happened, the Hokage was pinned against the wall by blades made of pure, yellow radiance, like solidified light constructs of transformed energy. He immediately tried to flee with _Hiraishin_, but even his trusty Flying Thunder God technique seemed to have failed him.

"Don't bother with that _Jikukan Ninjutsu_ of yours," said the goddess, "I've altered the reality of this room to restrict all space-time techniques. You can't escape, mortal."

Minato grit his teeth in frustration. She was only the second person who has ever bested his Flying Thunder God in this way. Choetsu was the first. Could this being, this goddess, have a power related to the Rikudou Hiraishin? Or was it something else?

Looking up, he saw that Amaterasu was now standing a few feet away, no longer behind his desk, and was wearing a mostly stoic expression, only ruined by the arrogant smirk on her stunning face as she observed her pinned and captured prey.

But he wasn't down for the count yet. Using what freedom of movement he had left, Minato lifted his right hand before forming a half-tiger seal with his middle and index fingers. A complex seal of characters suddenly blossomed around Amaterasu, before briefly shining with a bright, azure radiance.

The Kami seemed unfazed, "A containment seal. Is that the best you can do? Well, I guess it's impressive for a human. But this isn't nearly enough to contain me." To prove her point, the celestial being effortlessly walked outside of the sealing array, which failed to even slow her down.

Smirking smugly, Amaterasu slowly sauntered over towards Minato, before grabbing him by the chin and speaking, "They call you the Yellow Flash, don't they. It suits you. But would you like to see a _real_ Yellow Flash? I am known as the Goddess of the Sun, after all."

Then, before Minato could so much as reply or retort, Amaterasu's body suddenly lit up with the brilliance and luminosity of a trillion stars. For a brief moment, the goddess became a living sun, shining with incomparable radiance and blinding Minato as her presence filled the entire room with celestial light.

But as soon as it happened, the light receded and faded away, leaving Minato's vision temporarily dysfunctional as his eyes struggled to readjust and repair themselves. When he finally regained his sight, the Hokage was greeted by the image of Amaterasu flailing about as none other than the Rikudou Hiraishin himself was restraining her from behind, with a hand clasped over her mouth and the other slinked around her lithe waist.

"Feisty as usual, Ama-chan. But I didn't expect you to make such a bold move so soon," said Choestu in that same mocking tone he always used, before throwing the now-helpless goddess to the ground in front of him, "It's like you're inviting me to turn you into a wolf again."

The Kami turned to look at him with unconcealed hostility reflected in her sun-like eyes, before asking, "What are you talking about, Rikudou?"

Oddly enough, the word "Rikudou" was said in a tone filled with utter disdain, as if the very pronunciation of the term was poison in her mouth.

Realizing his mistake, Choetsu had the gall to look sheepish before saying, "Oh my. I'm getting my parallel universes mixed up again. That's the second time today in fact."

The goddess ignored this, and rose to her full height before glaring daggers at the blonde-haired time traveler, "Why did you interfere! I was in the middle of punishing this mortal for his crimes!"

The Rinnegan-user audibly scoffed before replying, "You're so-called punishment was completely uncalled for. Plus, you're a bitch; probably the most attractive woman in the universe, but still a bitch. You know full-and-well that we of the Six Paths have forbidden your kind from interfering in the development of _that _jutsu."

"A stupid decision on your part," spat Amaterasu, her voice oozing with enmity, "Mortals can't handle that kind of power."

Choetsu laughed in response, "Oh, it's quite the opposite, actually. Only humans can truly master that power and unlock its full potential. We Rikudou are proof of that."

His response seem to only infuriate the Sun goddess even more, as she immediately flew into a rage, bringing her outstretched palm up in the hope of firing a blast of weaponized light at the source of her resentment. It failed to do anything, however, and Choetsu only grinned upon seeing this.

"It's useless, Ama-chan. With _my _power, I can effortlessly counter, nullify, and negate any and every one of your attempts to manipulate this reality. You're effectively powerless, as long as I will it. Now go on and run home to daddy; I'll let you do that much at least. I'm sure Izanagi-chan is wondering where his dear, heavenly daughter is, and I'm also quite sure that your brother Susanoo-chan will be pretty pissed when he learns that you've been encroaching on his domain. The Human Realm is his jurisdiction, after all."

Amaterasu could only give a defeated "humph" in return, knowing she was ultimately defeated, before vanishing in a yellow flash. Minato gave a sigh of relief as the blades of golden light pinning him to the wall disappeared.

"W-who was that woman," asked Minato after being freed, "She called herself Amaterasu and claimed to be the Sun Goddess or something to that effect."

"Well, she wasn't lying. She is a goddess; one of the kami," answered Choetsu while taking a seat at one of the chairs in front of Minato's desk, "A divine race that resides in the God Realm, one of the Six Realms of the Universe. Remember, I told you about them in that little lecture I gave you on the day of Naruto and Kurama's graduation. "

"Oh yes, that. How could I forget about that? I missed my children's graduation for that long and boring piece of exposition. But why was she here? She said she came to kill me, but for what reason?"

"It's because of Uchiha Kagami's scroll," answered Choetsu, "That scroll that you and Kushina have been studying contains something that is linked with the gods and their power. And Amaterasu doesn't like that. Not one bit."

"She has somewhat of a serious case of what I like to call a "god complex", which is understandable since she is in fact a goddess, but it results in her having a massive superiority complex and a tremendous disdain for those weaker than her, especially mortals. For this reason I have affectionately given her the nickname of "Queen Bitch of the Universe". I think it suits her quite well actually."

Minato grit his teeth in frustration upon hearing this, "So you're saying that if we continue to work on this scroll, then Amaterasu will continue targeting us? Damn, I gotta tell Kushina. We have to stop this, before she-…"

"Oh no. Don't do that, gramps," said Choetsu, cutting his grandfather off, "Don't you remember me saying that the Rikudou have forbidden the kami from interfering in the development of the very thing you're working on. What Amaterasu did today was an act that went against our decree, and should not have happened. In fact, I don't have a clue how it did…"

Minato's brow rose in confusion, "You don't have clue? How is that possible? You're supposed to be omniscient."

"Nigh-omniscient, to be more accurate; the Rikudou can hide pieces of information from each other. And there are…_others _out there who can do the same. I believe Amaterasu had some outside help. That's the only way she could have done this."

"Why do you think that?"

"Well, for one thing, there's no way that Amaterasu could've gotten close to you without me knowing. The kami aren't powerful enough to shroud a Rikudou's omniscience. Number two, her divine jurisdiction is the God Realm, so she should've been there, not here in the Human Realm. The gods don't possess the power to travel between realms on their own; only the Rikudou and the _Guardian_ can do that which is why your Hiraishin isn't capable of interdimensional teleportation."

"The Guardian?"

"Also in my lecture, remember?"

"Oh yeah."

"As I was saying, Amaterasu could not have gotten here on her own, and no Rikudou would have allowed her to. Neither would the Guardian. The only other options are _Kuchiyose no Jutsu_, meaning that someone in this realm summoned her, or another outside force. I'm leaning towards the latter because of my third point."

"Which is?"

"When she teleported away just now after I restrained her, my cosmic awareness lost sight of her, completely. That would only be possible if some other entity was obscuring my omniscience. Like I said earlier, there are only a handful of beings in all of creation that are powerful enough to do this. I have my suspicion on which one it is, but I'm not certain," concluded the Rikudou Hiraishin.

"So what do we do?" asked Minato.

"If by we you mean you and I, then we do nothing. I, on the other hand, will be working on investigating this matter on my own, and you will be staying out of it. You can't handle this shit, it's so far beyond you and this entire planet that I doubt you can even begin to understand how much of an outside context problem this is for you."

"So you just want me to sit here, while a bonafide goddess is lurking in the shadows beyond even your sight, ready to strike at a moment's notice," replied Minato, clearly upset, "I have as much at stake here as you! She's after my life, and probably Kushina's life as well! At the very least you should let me-…"

"That last ability that she was about to use before I showed up; the one that was blinding you with its light," interrupted Choetsu in a calm tone, "would've released a full blown supernova, reducing not only you but this entire planet to less than ashes, and probably engulfing this entire solar system in the process. Now do you realize how completely out of depth you are?"

Minato gave an audible gulp upon hearing this.

"That's what I thought," added Choetsu, "Like I said; stay out of this. This is beyond you, beyond Konoha, beyond the entire human race in fact. This is nothing you've ever trained for. You're out of your league. So just leave it up to me to worry about this affair of kami and Rikudou, and just worry about your Hokage duties and that project you've been working on with Kushina. By the way…how is that going?"

"It's going pretty well actually. Kushina just managed to figure out that the seal-…"

"Hold that thought, Minato-ji-chan," interrupted the blonde Rinnegan-user again, "Tell me next chapter. We're running out of time in this chapter as it is…"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't worry about it. Author-chan is just going to have a little scene break in a couple paragraphs, and then he'll cut straight to the conclusion of the chapter. Then the plot will get back to us in Chapter 28, and you can have all the time in the world to give your explanation, complete with flashback. How's that sound? Good? Good."

Minato sighed, "I think it's probably better for my sanity that I _don't_ know what the hell you're talking about."

"Mhm, that's basically what they all say," said Choetsu while nodding, "Well, now that we're pretty much done here; Author-chan, cue scene break…"

* * *

><p>The immense cloud of dust, smoke, and debris that had expanded outwards from the explosion's epicenter covered a decent chunk of the forest, rising up into the sky and blotting out the sun. It was noticeable from miles away, as the native inhabitants of the Wave country stared at its form in the distance, their eyes filled with curiosity and terror.<p>

As the enormous debris cloud began to settle, a deep rumbling started to echo from within. Suddenly, the top of the cloud split apart as a colossal figure emerged. It was massive, a behemoth of unmatched proportions.

Resembling a blue, armored _kabutomushi_, a type of horned beetle, it possessed seven protrusions, six of them being orange, nearly translucent wings and the seventh being a green tail emerging from the end of its abdomen. Its head was like a helmet-like skull, blue in color like the rest of its body, while its eyes were covered by an orange, segmented visor. Finally, it had six limbs, whether they were arms or legs remained to be determined, that were almost completely blue with the exception of their green tips.

This was Chomei, the Seven-Tailed Giant Rhino Beetle. It was one of the nine bijuu, and one of the most powerful entities in the world. A mammoth behemoth of pure, infinite chakra, raging with unlimited power; it was the Village Hidden in the Waterfall's ultimate weapon.

And now it was being set loose upon the Waterfall's most dangerous and infamous criminal and missing-nin.

* * *

><p>Miles away, one Hatake Kakashi momentarily turned his attention from the current battle at hand, his silent duel with Momochi Zabuza, towards the abrupt new presence in the distance.<p>

"W-what is this feeling…it reminds of the Kyuubi attack, twelve years ago, but…_different_ somehow." muttered the Copy-nin under his breath. He was released from his thoughts when Zabuza, hidden by his mist, attempted to cleave him from behind with his _Kubikiribocho_. Fortunately, the Yondaime's student reacted in time, parrying the giant guillotine like blade with a single kunai.

Likewise, a few meters away, Uchiha Sasuke had his attention drawn from the dome of crystal ice mirrors in front of him to the sudden feeling of terror that had gripped his heart like a vice.

'_This sensation…I've never felt anything like it before. It's stifling, constricting, like a noose around my neck. What the hell is this…?_'

Finally, inside the dome of mirrors itself, the Hokage's daughter Kurama lay helpless on the floor, filled with dozens of senbon needles like she was some voodoo doll or pincushion, as several of her shadow clones fought around her, trying to protect their original from the onslaught of razor-sharp attacks that was assaulting them incessantly.

She too felt the demonic aura that had pervaded the land and the atmosphere. But she was reacting to it differently.

Inside of her, something was welling up; growing, blossoming, building to the point where it felt like it was going to burst. It was an animalistic feeling, a feeling of rage that if unleashed would turn Kurama into a vicious demon not unlike the one that had just been released miles away. She felt her nails elongating, her pupils constricting, and her whisker-marks deepening. She felt herself becoming more and more like a beast, and she knew exactly what was causing it.

And so she struggled, using all of her will power and determination, to keep it contain. She would not allow her inner demon to take over. Not as long as her name was Namikaze Kurama.

* * *

><p>When Kakuzu came to, after being blown away like the rag doll that he was by the explosion, he was lying on his back with his eyes trained on the sky.<p>

And in that very sky roared the Nanabi, reigning in its unreachable domain as lord of the lofty heavens, its figure so huge that it blot out the sun itself, casting a dark, ominous shadow over the Land of Waves.

Upon fully coming to terms with the predicament he was now in, Kakuzu had only one thing to say…

"Fuck."

This was the worst possible scenario.

* * *

><p>When Naruto came to, after being sent tumbling away by the explosion that had freed him from Kakuzu's grip (although his Rasengan might have done that anyways), he was lying on his stomach with his chin in the dirt.<p>

Ignoring the pain and soreness racking his entire body, Naruto dragged himself off the ground with his arms and brought himself to a standing position. He looked up.

"HOLY SHIT!" exclaimed Naruto as he noticed the giant, flying, six-winged beetle in the sky. The shock sent him off his feet as fell stumbling on his ass, his eyes widening in a combination of awe and panic.

"W-w-w-w-what the hell is that!?" stuttered Naruto in fright, as his body's innate fight-or-flight response went into overdrive. In this case, Naruto's body choose the flight response, prompting the blonde speedster to get up and run away in the opposite direction as fast as possible, which for him meant that he was now moving like a living blur.

It wasn't long until Naruto began gathering a tremendous amount of his chakra at his feet. When he was finished, he activated the Body Flicker Technique and released all of the pent-up chakra from his soles, sending him blasting off. To an outside observer, it would've appeared as if he had disappeared from vision completely, vanishing with a yellow flash.

It was only through coincidence and pure luck that he ended up heading in the direction of Tazuna's incomplete bridge…

* * *

><p>"What have we done, Fukuzo?" asked Makoto, awestruck, as she looked up at the form of the Nanabi. After Fukuzo had broken the seal on the Nanabi's vessel, the two Taki-nin had shunshin'd out of the immediate area as fast as possible before the bijuu had completely broken out.<p>

"A demon; we've unleashed a demon, Makoto," replied Fukuzo in a low whisper, before the sealing expert formed a single cross-seal, creating a shadow clone of himself, "My clone will head back to the rendezvous point and alert the rest of the elite sealing team. We'll stay here to make sure nothing goes wrong with the Nanabi."

"Uhh, why don't we have your shadow clone stay here, and then we can go off and get the sealing team," said Makoto with a hint of fear in her voice.

"Don't be such a baby! It doesn't take two people to send a message. Besides, as long as we keep our distance, we should be fine. The Nanabi's attention will be naturally drawn towards the S-Rank because of his powerful chakra."

"Right, right," responded the kunoichi, no more assured than she felt before he had spoken.

* * *

><p>There was only one individual in all of Wave country who wasn't struck by awe andor terror at the Seven-Tail's presence. But of course, why would a self-proclaimed god be concerned about a lowly demon?

With a violent unfurling of its green wings, Chikushodou's summoned drill-beaked bird took off from the forest floor it had been waiting at, with the Animal Path of Pain secure on its back. Nagato himself was still floating hundreds of meters above the ground, higher than even the Nanabi itself, and was literally miles away. The Seventh Path of Pain would remain behind, observing while allowing his reanimated puppets to handle the dirty work.

As the drill-beaked bird rose in the air, Chikushodou began a sequence of hand seals, ending it with an exclamation of "_Kuchiyose no Jutsu_!"

A cloud of smoke erupted in front of him, and from it two figures emerged. One was _Tendou_, the Deva Path of Pain, taking the form of a handsome young man with spiky, ginger hair and six piercings, three on each side of his nose, who was flying forward with the power of gravity alone providing him with lift and thrust. The other was _Shuradou_, the Asura Path, a tall giant of a man possessing a completely bald head and no neck, with jet-fire wafting from the boosters in his feet.

The Deva Path, Yahiko's legacy, was the first to make a move…

"_Shinra Tensei_!"

TBC

A.N. As you can all see in this chapter, things have gotten very, very intense. We have Kakuzu stomping Naruto with utter ease, Itachi thinking about joining Hoshikuzu, a freaking _bijuu _on the loose, a goddess after Minato's life, a self-proclaimed god on a mission, and free waffles! Okay, maybe no free waffles, but the rest of that list was spot on.

As you can see from Amaterasu-chan's debut this chapter, I will be incorporating some Japanese mythology into my fanfic's overarching mythos. To avoid confusing with the Mangekyo techniques named after Shinto kami, the actual gods will be referred to in normal print, while the Mangekyo techs will be typed in _italics_. If any of you are wondering why I've decided to include actual gods/kami in my story; they will play a heavily influntial role upon the big picture of my plot, and when I mean "big picture" I mean BIG. The God Realm and its inhabitants are going to be involved in a plotline that will transcends arcs and bind the entire story together. So I figure now would be a good time as any to introduce them to you.

Speaking of the God Realm, I haven't yet gotten to giving a detailed explanation about the wider cosmology of my version of the Narutoverse, which plays an EXTREMELY crucial role in the story. I've given hints here and there in previous chapters, but I won't give a full exposition of the cosmology until the next chapter, and it will probably take a few chaps to fully flesh out. Like I said, cosmology and the background of the Rikudou specifically are very important to my story.

Anyways, next chapter we will turn back to the Bridge battle, as Naruto rejoins the fight, plus a glimpse of Kakuzu and Pain as they deal with the rampaging Chomei. We'll also have Choetsu and Minato's scene with the exposition I was talking about, which will not only explain cosmology but the nature of Uchiha Kagami's scroll and what Kushina discovered. BUt I don't want to focus too much on that, so I'll be dividing up the chapter accordingly between fight scenes and info scenes to avoid boring any of my beloved readers.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and please read and review!


	29. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: Verily, this humble persona denies the inaccurate claim that the intellectual property referred to as "Naruto" is under his owndership.

Author's Note: Wow, two months, huh. I'm getting worse. Sorry everyone. Here's an extra long chapter to make up for it, and Merry Christmas in advanced! Oh, and sorry about any errors...I rushed the editing process because I wanted to get this chapter out before the supposed end of the world, hehehe.

Chapter 28: Two Point Five Seconds

"_Shinra Tensei_!" were the words that resounded throughout the Land of Waves, as a gravitational shockwave of pure, invisible force propagated from the Deva Path's outstretched palm, aimed in the Nanabi's direction. The wave of force smashed against the tailed beast's colossal form, and even a creature of its mass could not help being pushed back.

The Shinra Tensei felled the Seven-Tails from its lofty domain, sending it crashing into the Earth with a massive, earth-shattering impact, kicking up massive amounts of dust and debris. The Nanabi roared in pain, disoriented, which Nagato, through his Asura Path, capitalized upon.

Showing off the impossible abnormalities of its body structure, _Shurado _transformed its right arm into a strange, futuristic cannon-like contraption. The arm cannon began charging up, arcing with blue energy, before a sphere of azure radiance formed in its gaping maw. The chakra laser fired immediately as it finished charging.

The grounded Nanabi proved to be a large, easily hit target as the laser seared through its armor and ignited an immense, sweltering explosion of heat, light, and force that engulfed the entire chakra beast.

Makoto and Fukuzo, the two Taki-nin who had released their village's trump card, were gaping in shock from a distance. One moment, the Nanabi had been roaring majestically in the sky, a demon of wrath that controlled the heavens them self, when the next moment it was struck down by some invisible force, sending it careening violently into the ground before it was quickly followed up by a radiant lance of light.

Who could have done such a thing? Who could have felled the third most powerful tailed beast in such a complete and utter manner? Who possessed such power? One thing was for sure; whoever had done it could be considered the closest thing to a god imaginable.

"M-Makoto," said the male Taki-nin addressing his comrade, "Who...who the hell could've done this? Did you sense anything?"

The ginger-headed kunoichi nodded, still in bewilderment, "I got a sudden chakra reading just before the Nanabi was blown away. Whoever it was just appeared out of nowhere, as if they were summoned; I believe there are two of them, up there in the sky. They're…they're _flying_."

"Flying? That's ridiculous," replied Fukuzo with a snort, "What? Did the _kami _decided to send a bunch of winged _tenshi _to take care of the demon we just released?"

"Who know? Their chakra signatures are very…no, extremely odd, to be honest."

"Well, can we do something about it? We can't just let them interfere in this, whoever they are! The big beetle is our only chance of eliminating a missing-nin of our target's stature."

"You don't happen to have any kind of flight jutsu, do you?"

"No. Shit."

* * *

><p>Speaking of a certain <em>nuke-nin<em>, the infamous bounty hunter Kakuzu was in a similar state of simultaneous distress, relief, and above all shock as he watched the ultimate weapon meant for him go down.

Getting up off the ground, the powerhouse miser dusted himself off before contemplating the situation at hand.

There was a very, very slim chance of even someone of his caliber being able to survive the rampage of a tailed beast, let alone the Seven-Tails. Yes, he had fought the Shodai Hokage, Senju Hashirama in the past and survived, but the battle had been extremely one-sided and only Hashirama's mercy had allowed Kakuzu to keep his life.

Not only that, but the Hokage had possessed the unique ability to suppress bijuu with his _Mokuton_, or Wood Release bloodline. Kakuzu didn't have that benefit. Against the full power of the Nanabi, Kakuzu was frankly screwed.

So, it was a literal godsend when someone, or something, had decided to intervene. Whoever they were, they obviously possessed colossal power to be able to overwhelm the giant _kabutomushi _like that.

Kakuzu was debating whether he should stay and watch to see if he could rend any profit from whoever or whatever had intervened, or if he should just leave and go after his original prey, who had escaped during the chaos and confusion.

'_On second thought,_' mused Kakuzu, '_If whoever intervened is powerful enough to do that to the Seven-Tailed Beast, I think it would be a good idea if I just didn't get involved._'

His decision made, Kakuzu moved to turn around when he suddenly realized he wasn't alone in the clearing.

Standing now in front of him was a tall, deathly pale man with long, un-styled ginger hair, multiple facial piercings, and the strangest eyes he had ever seen. They were concentric circles of purple mercury rings, all surrounding a black pupil.

'_A dojutsu-user_…' concluded the S-Rank bounty hunter in his thoughts.

This was _Ningendou_, the Human Path of Pain.

* * *

><p>Naruto didn't look back. His body wouldn't let him. The only feeling or emotion pervading his adrenaline-pumped body at the moment was pure, unbridled fear.<p>

It was a fear that Naruto had seldom experienced before. The last time he remembered being this afraid was during a certain kidnapping, five years prior. But even then, the memories were hazy, so Naruto couldn't exactly recall how it felt at the time.

The visage of terror assaulting his young mind today would not be so easily repressed or forgotten. No, it would be burned upon his brain, forever immortalized as long as Naruto lived, just like the image of the screaming, beetle-like demon was burned upon his retina.

He didn't know what it was. He didn't know where it came from. And he most certainly didn't know why it was here. But all he knew and all he cared to know, is that if he stayed in the same area as that behemoth any longer he would either die a horrible flaming death, or he would kill himself to ease the pressure of the beast's immensely powerful killing intent.

So he fled. He didn't care if it was cowardly, although a small part in the back of his brain was guiltily wondering if his father would have ran away (he would not have, in fact, as the Yondaime had faced a beast far more dreadful than the Nanabi). He was running completely on his body's fight-or-flight instinct at the moment, all though in this case it was all the latter and none of the former, as Naruto had no more fight left in his soul.

He just wanted out.

Hearing an ear-splitting explosion behind him, Naruto nearly jumped out of his own skin in panic. The adrenaline rushing through his body pumped even faster as his sympathetic nervous system reacted to the aforementioned stimulus. As Naruto's feelings of dread and alarm grew, his speed likewise increased.

Now running through the trees at top speed, Naruto promised himself that he would reach Tazuna's bridge as fast as possible, so he could warn the others and rescue them if they were in trouble.

In his haste he forgot all about the sapphire gem necklace around his neck.

* * *

><p>The Animal Path of Pain and its bird summon touched down on solid ground once more, landing in an empty forest clearing. Looking up, <em>Chikushodou<em> spotted its fellow Paths, the Deva Path and the Asura Path, hovering above the Nanabi's dust cloud.

Those two were really all that was needed for this battle. Before Nagato's body restoration, it would take all Six Paths of Pain to subdue a bijuu of the Nanabi's level. But now, with the significant power boost as well as improved mastery of the Rinnegan that Nagato had received since Uzumaki Choetsu had appeared in his life, _Tendou _would suffice against the Seven-Tails. Adding Asura was cautious but overkill, while the Animal Path was just unnecessary.

The summoner had a better role to play anyways. With a pop of smoke, the green drill-beaked bird disappeared, shortly after its master had dismounted. Flashing through seals, the Animal Path slammed his palms against the ground, causing two summoning arrays to blossom followed by two more pops of smoke. From the resulting smoke clouds, the Preta Path of Pain and the Naraka Path of Pain arose.

They were just precautions. If either Deva or Asura were slayed in the battle against the Nanabi, the Animal Path could reverse summon them and have _Jigokudou_, the Naraka Path resurrect them with the _King of Hell_. If the Seven-Tails ever decided to use its fully powered Tailed Beast Ball, _Gakidou_, the Preta Path was ready to absorb it and prevent any devastation to the Land of Waves.

The Human Path had also been summoned earlier, but it was off on a little side mission that Choetsu had included in the overall mission dossier.

Feeling a sudden spike in chakra with his sensory perception, the Animal Path smirked, "Now, the battle begins."

Then the Nanabi's dust cloud exploded as a thunderous roar deafened the land.

* * *

><p>Chomei was not a happy camper. Today had proven to be quite the unlucky day for the Seven-Tails. First, she (yes, she, as the technically genderless demon referred to herself) had been rudely awoken from her metaphysical nap when her container, Fu, had been kidnapped by a bunch of her fellow Taki-nin and stuffed into some weird gourd.<p>

Of course, it was just her container and not herself who had to physically endure through such an experience while Chomei merely had to watch, but it was still quite annoying nonetheless. But then something weird happened, and all of a sudden her container's existence inside the gourd became _hell _for the bijuu.

Something, or someone, had ruptured the stability of the seal entrapping her inside Fu, and Chomei tried to escape. But some force was holding her back and in place, preventing her from squeezing out of the pores in Fu's very soul. The metaphysical vice was more painful than one could comprehend, and the psychological aspect of it was torturous as well. It was like being tantalized by the smell of the most delicious meal one could ever imagine, but then having said meal snatched away just as one could reach it.

What Chomei didn't know was that the cause of her pain was the sealing tags placed on the black gourd by Fukuzo, which unlocked Fu's seal but kept the demon at bay. Of course, what Chomei did know but ignored or simply refused to acknowledge was that fact that her host had experienced a pain a million times greater than she had been subject to, while her lithe and youthful body was torn apart from the inside by the monstrous chakra of the Nanabi.

Of course, about a couple of eternities of anguish later, Chomei was finally released from her prison and into the outside world. She was free; finally, _finally _free. She hadn't gotten a chance to stretch her wing-like tails since she had been sealed in the mint-haired girl shortly after her birth. Now, her domain was around her once again, ensconcing her in its promises of absolutely supremacy; supremacy over the lofty heavens. The sky beckoned her, and she had returned to it once more.

And to celebrate, she had decided to go on an obligatory tailed beast rampage. Her goal; obliterate the surrounding countryside and all the pestilent humans dwelling in it. Her acute animal senses immediately sought out her first target; the highest chakra signature in the area. It was quite unusual; possessing what seemed to be five hearts which the chakra circulatory system was centered around.

But it didn't matter to her. She would destroy whoever it was. It was going to be her lucky day.

But unfortunately for Chomei, it was not to be. One minute she was roaring in utter triumph in preparation for the sheer devastation she was about to revel in, and then the next moment an invisible force had swatted her out of the sky and smashed her into the Earth. It was soon followed by a searing pain that tried to lance through her armored skin, blasting layers of the chakra carapace off and engulfing her in smoke and debris.

The end result was her being left grounded in a massive, smoking crater on the ground. That seriously pissed her off.

Filled with what she believed was righteous fury, the wayward creation of the Sage of Six Paths emerged from the dust cloud and gave a thunderous roar that deafened the land.

* * *

><p>Uzumaki Nagato was not intimidated. As a result, neither were his Paths. To him, the demonic roar that the Nanabi had released seemed no worse than the meager whine of a pathetically diminutive puppy.<p>

"The unsealing of the Seven-Tails was unfortunate," mused Nagato to himself, still miles away from the battle, "with that having come to pass, the jinchuuriki is now dead. But if I can restrain the bijuu and seal it again, I can use the King of Hell to resurrect her. This mission is not yet lost. "

'_For true peace, and for you, my lovely angel, Konan_…'

With that in mind, Nagato sent the signal to attack. Unfortunately, Chomei had beaten him to it.

With a majestic unfurling of its six wing-like tails, brilliant azure energy began gathering upon the surface of the wings, before being released as a barrage of scattering tailed beast chakra blasts.

"Shinra Tensei!" declared the Deva Path again as it created an invisible barrier in front of itself, deflecting any chakra blasts that got too close for comfort. In contrast, the Asura Path was taking a more evasive approach, weaving and dodging through the fields of fire and making the most out of its powerful rocket boots.

After maneuvering out of the densest concentration of firepower, Asura Path steadied itself before releasing a barrage of missiles from its wrist. The explosive projectiles all hit their mark with perfect accuracy, bombarding Chomei and causing her to scream again in pain.

Seeing an opening, Deva summoned a black spike from its sleeve; one of Nagato's chakra disruption rods. Taking the chakra rod into its hand, Tendou gathered momentum before hurling the rod with all its power combined with a Shinra Tensei for even more kinetic energy.

The Shinra Tensei-propelled chakra rod pierced the kabutomushi's thick exoskeleton, imbedding itself deep underneath the surface layer. The giant rhino beetle only screamed even more.

In retaliation, the Nanabi's seventh tail (the only one not shaped like a wing) stretched out suddenly and extended, aiming straight for Tendou. Before the sharp tip could skewer the reanimated corpse, Asura intercepted it, catching a section of the tail with both arms and stopping it dead in its tracks with enormous Rinnegan-enhanced strength.

Ramping up to its full thrust capacity, Shuradou began ascending while dragging the tail along with him. So great was the Asura Path's strength and power that even the mighty Nanabi could not resist it, being helplessly dragged higher into the air by her own tail. Then, with a massive heave using all of his muscle power, the Asura Path _flipped_ the bijuu over his head and slammed Chomei's entire body to the ground, causing an earth-shattering quake that rumbled throughout _Nami no Kuni_.

Not one to give any mercy or respite, the Deva Path held its palm out in the Seven-Tail's direction, before exclaiming, "_Bansho Tenin_!"

An invisible hand of pure gravitational force grabbed at Chomei's body, lifting the giant beetle into the air as it followed the motions of Deva's own hand as it rose. Then, bringing its arm down like a swift hammer of god, the Deva Path commanded the forces of gravity to slam Chomei back into the Earth with devastating force, leaving a crater behind and copious amounts of debris that covered the entire surrounding forest.

The world became silent for one tense moment as the raging cacophony that pervaded the land was abated temporarily. For just a little bit, Nagato wondered if the Nanabi had died. But he quickly perished that thought, as he knew that bijuu were immortal and could only be sealed.

Even if he wasn't aware of that particular fact, any doubts to the Seven-Tail's continued existence would have been abolished when the smoke covering its crater erupted and volleys of blue chakra blasts spewed forth.

Noticing the attack immediately, the Asura Path flew to intercept it before ripping off its _Hoshikuzu _cloak and revealing the mechanical abomination of a body beneath the cloak to the world. Shuradou's back began bulging and swelling grotesquely until it ripped open and released an arsenal of homing missiles, which all launched immediately. The salvo of missiles intercepted each of the incoming chakra blasts, resulting in multiple explosions that obscured the sky with fields of dense smoke.

From the cover of the smoke, Chomei charged with far greater speed than was evident from her massive size. One of its giant pincer-like appendages suddenly shot out and rammed into Asura, who just barely caught the crushing limb (the tip of which was the size of Asura's entire body) and managed to narrowly escape destruction using incredible strength to hold it back.

The Deva Path of Pain choose this moment to strike, using another Bansho Tenin to grab a large piece of the landscape the size of a boss summon before slamming it into the kabutomushi. Chomei screamed again, but her screams were muffled by the sudden ignition of a chakra laser mounted on Asura's torso, which fired a gigantic blue beam that engulfed the Nanabi at point blank along with the piece of land that had been smashed into it.

Seeing the substantial explosion, Tendou had the gall to smirk, "Who knew swatting a bug could be so…_amusing_."

* * *

><p>To Nagato and his Paths, fighting the Nanabi was just another Tuesday.<p>

But to any relatively "normal" outside observer, the tumultuous clash between a self-proclaimed "god" and a so-called "demon" would've been seen as an apocalyptic battle between the Heavens and Hell itself.

At least, that's what it looked like to the two hapless Taki-nin, Fukuzo and Makoto. They're were both gob smacked and gaping up at the sky, where the Seven-Tails had just been _blown to smithereens_ after having a giant rock smashed into it. Both _jounin _had the sudden feeling that they really, really shouldn't be here. Or anywhere in the general area for that matter.

"W-What…the hell is...going on? Tell me what's going on, Makoto!" asked Fukuzo with a hint of fear and desperation in his voice.

"How in the world should I know!" the kunoichi snapped back, "Someone, or something, just came out of absolutely _nowhere _and started fighting the demon. _And they're winning_! I have about as much a clue as you do…"

"Use those goddamn senses that you were born with, for the love of _Kami-sama_!" barked the male shinobi.

"I already did! Nothing came up but some nonsense," replied the ginger, trying to be as calm as possible even in her panicked state, "Like I told you before; first there was nothing, than all of a sudden two humongous chakra signatures came out of nowhere, as if they were summoned. These two signatures are the ones that are fighting the Nanabi right now."

"But that's not all. Shortly afterwards, four more signatures showed up in a similar fashion, one by one. And it looks like one of the four has engaged our real target, Kakuzu."

Fukuzo grit his teeth in frustration, "So it seems they're after both the bijuu and the S-Rank. We can't let them get away with this! Tell me where the other three signatures are. If we confront them, maybe we can get some answers."

Makoto's eyes widened at Fukuzo's words, "No, no, don't…don't tell me you plan on going after them! Are you insane! I don't…I don't think these people are ninjas. They're…_gods_. They have to be, to be able to fight a tailed beast like that."

"Just tell me where they are!" commanded Fukuzo, his voice increasing in volume, "This is an order! I was made the leader of this operation for a reason, and I won't let the mission be a failure!"

Makoto bit her lip, torn between what to do. She was sure, absolutely so, that going after these three would result in their untimely deaths. But her duty and loyalty to the Hidden Waterfall was a compelling force against any cowardice that might pop up in her mind. So she made her decision.

"Fine."

* * *

><p>Unfortunately for them, Makoto was not the only sensor.<p>

'_Hmm, it seems there are two shinobi from Takigakure approaching us from the east_,' mused the Animal Path of Pain as it blinked a few times, '_both roughly low jounin-level. No need to waste a Path on either of them_.'

Then, the reanimated corpse flash through a quick series of hand seals before exclaiming, "_Kuchiyose no Jutsu_!" A cloud of smoke erupted behind the Animal Path, before a black, indiscernible figure flickered out of the smoke faster than the human eye could track.

Chikushodou smirked, "This is what summons were meant for. _Hunting_…"

* * *

><p>"Why are we here, Choetsu?"<p>

"I wanted some ramen…"

"Couldn't you just, oh I don't know, snap your fingers and poof a bowl of ramen into existence?"

"But that's just _sooooo_ tacky. I only do that when I'm feeling lazy as hell; which is a good percentage of the time, to be honest. But today I felt like Ichiraku's would be a great spot to hold this conversation; better than your office at least…"

Namikaze Minato sighed as he mentally facepalmed at his future grandson's antics, "Look, Choetsu; I agree that Ichiraku's has a great atmosphere for holding normal, everyday conversations…but not for top secret discussions containing classified, highly confidential information that could determine the fate of the world as we know it!"

"I don't see your point…" replied the _Rikudou Hiraishin _with a bored look on his face.

"What if someone overhears, you idiot!"

Choetsu chucked, "Oh, that's not a problem. I know you're not the _genjutsu _type, so I took the liberty of lacing a subtle perception-altering illusion into our voices that will disguise our conversation with a normal one, in order to avoid people eavesdropping."

Minato sighed again, "You could've told me that in the first place. What are people going to hear us saying, by the way?"

A mischievous grin developed on the time traveler's face, which the Hokage failed to catch due to the fact that his grandson was standing in front of him with his body turned the other way.

"Oh, don't worry about that, Minato-_jiji_. Just follow me inside…"

The Yondaime shrugged, before trailing behind the True Rikudou as he walked into the eating establishment.

Upon entering, there was a series of gasps as the restaurant's patrons realized that not just one, but apparently _two _Yondaime Hokages had just entered the ramen stand. Or it was just one Yondaime Hokage and his clone. Or maybe someone had just spiked all of their bowls with substances unmentionable.

Either way, none of the patrons were waving and greeting the village leader and hero cheerfully like they usually did, due to their bewilderment. Fortunately, some of the smarter individuals were able to come to the conclusion that the Hokage look-alike was not a clone, but rather the rumored twin brother that many of the villagers have been whispering about lately.

The altered color scheme of his similar clothes, different facial structure, and Hyuuga-like skin complexion were probably what gave it away. The strange, exotic eyes probably helped as well.

The novelty of the experience eventually wore off and the customers either went back to their ramen or gave the Yondaime a few quick greetings that he returned politely in kind. Soon afterwards, he and Choetsu found a pair of seats and waited for Teuchi the ramen chef to take their orders.

Coming out from the kitchen was not Teuchi as was expected, but his teenage daughter and only employee, Ayame. She immediately noticed the Hokage and his look-alike, and a glaring blush erupted on her now burning face.

"Ehhh, H-Hokage-sama! T-There…there are two of you!" stammered the girl before she suddenly fainted as a trickle of blood escaped her nose. Her body fell back only to be caught in the arms of her old father, who had just arrived on the scene in time.

"S-sorry about that, Hokage-sama…my daughter doesn't usually act like this," apologized the ramen chef, before noticing the Yondaime's look-alike companion, "Eh, who's this?"

"No worries, Teuchi-san. I just hope you're daughter isn't ill or anything," replied Minato, causing Choetsu to sweatdrop and mutter something that sounded suspiciously like "oblivious" under his breath, "And this is my "brother", Choetsu."

"Oh, I'm sure it's nothing major. Probably something to do with hormones. You know how teenage girls are," said Teuchi with a nervous chuckle, "And it's nice to meet you Choetsu-sama."

"Isn't it," replied Choetsu, "I've heard a lot of things about your ramen noodles. My "nephew", Naruto, is a pretty big fan. You won't disappoint me now, will you?"

"Of course not! What would you two like to order?"

Behind him, his daughter Ayame began to stir, the trickle of blood was still running down from her nose. Not to mention the presence of another type of bodily fluid in a wholly different part of her body…

'_Damn, that was hot_…'

* * *

><p>After they got their orders cooked and served (a spicy shrimp ramen for Minato, and a bowl of Miso for his time displaced descendant), Choetsu decided to start the conversation.<p>

"Now then," began the Shodai Kamikage, "time for that flashback moment I promised you last chapter, gramps. Go ahead and start."

Minato's facial expression hardened and a hesitant look appeared on his face.

"Are you still worried about eavesdroppers?" added Choetsu, noticing the look, "I told you already that my illusion will mask our conversation. Hell, it's doing it right now, in fact. But if you're still unsure, turn to the guy next to you and tell him something top secret and classified, and trust me; he won't notice a thing."

The Yellow Flash shrugged again before turning towards a man to his right, who was one seat away. He was a middle-aged, balding civilian man dressed in work clothes, and was a little on the heavy side.

"Excuse me," said Minato, addressing the civilian man. The man turned sharply towards him, with a startled expression on his face as he wondered frantically why the village leader wanted to talk to him. He prayed that it had nothing to do with that illicit porn stash he had smuggled home without his wife's knowledge. But that wasn't illegal, was it? He hoped not!

"Y-yes, Ho-Hokage-sama; did you need something?" stammered the middle-aged man.

"No, I just wanted to inform you that my daughter Kurama is actually the reincarnation of the same Nine-Tailed Demon Fox that attacked our village roughly twelve years ago," calmly stated the Yondaime, throwing caution to the wind as he tested Choetsu's genjutsu. He had said the words softly enough that no one but the man would hear, so if he showed any _unfavorable _reaction to it, Minato was confident that he could warp him away to a remote location using _Hiraishin no Jutsu_ without anyone noticing and…_deal _with him.

Of course, dealing with him simply meant placing a memory seal that would erase the man's recollection of this conversation. What? Did you really think the ever noble Namikaze would actually kill the man? Oh, perish the thought, dear readers! Now, that's enough of this paragraph's Fourth Wall Breaking. Moving on…

"That's very nice, Hokage-sama," replied the man, "I have that volume too! It's actually my favorite; the plot is the best in my opinion."

The Yondaime simply smiled back; too glad that Choetsu's genjutsu had worked, while his grandson grinned for a very different reason. Without even bothering to continue whatever conversation he had started with the civilian man, Minato turned back to his bowl of Ramen and began eating, leaving the man confused. Of course, he wouldn't press anything; this was the Hokage, and he was just a lowly coin shop owner.

"Well then; now that you've tested the functionality of my illusion," began the Rikudou Hiraishin again, now with a shit-eating grin on his face, "Whenever you're ready, gramps."

"Alright, this is what happened when I talked to Kushina earlier today…"

Flashback:

_Marvelous. Marvelous was the only word that could describe it._

_Minato and his wife Kushina were standing in the Hokage's fuinjutsu workshop, surrounded on all sides by the blue-tinted projected images of hundreds of different sealing arrays, all suspended in mid-air. They came in all shapes and sizes. Some were circular arrays consisting of carefully positioned characters arranged in a spiraling manner. Others were simply fields of text bunched up in columns and rows. _

_There were, of course, the seals of an irregular variety; lines of kanji meeting at odd angles and strange vertices, intertwining in an erratic yet functional manner that conformed to no recognizable archetype or paradigm. It was order out of chaos, harmony out of discord. The beauty of the sealing arts was unparalleled._

_But there was something odd about all of these seals; something minute, difficult to notice, and practically unobservable to the untrained individual. But Minato had an eye for fuinjutsu, and he caught the flaw right away. _

_All of these seals were incomplete. _

_"So," began Minato, as the awe left him, "what did you figure out, Kushina?"_

_Kushina smiled, "It stumped me at first, but the solution was really simple once I figured the problem out. These seals, all of the ones written in Kagami's scroll…are just pieces. They're mere fragments, portions of a seal that have been broken up."_

_"Well, that explains why they all look incomplete. But why would Uchiha Kagami copy down bits and pieces of a seal, instead of the whole thing?"_

_"That's just it," replied Kushina, "He couldn't. The original seal was too big, so he copied down fragments of it, one at a time."_

_"So, all of these seals that we're looking at," said Minato, gesturing at the holographic images floating around them, covering the entire room in an azure glow, "are pieces of a puzzle; the puzzle itself being the original seal that Kagami found in a tablet made by the Sage of Six Paths."_

_"Exactly," answered Kushina with a smirk, "and I've solved the puzzle."_

_The fiery redhead suddenly clapped her hands together, causing all of the seal fragment holographs to converge into the palm of her hands. A shining, luminescent orb of light glowed in her hands, amazing Minato with its brilliance. _

_Taking the orb, Kushina knelt down before slamming her palm against the floor, as if she was using a summoning jutsu. The orb of light burst apart, sending waves of energy to dance across the floor. And then, from the point where Kushina's palm touched the ground, the sealing fragments all exploded outwards. _

_They scattered across the room, arranging themselves into complex matrices and lattices as if by magic. New lines of character would blossom from each seal fragment, connecting each fragment to another like a jigsaw puzzle. Circular arrays would connect with planar arrays, which would connect to irregular arrays, which would connect to more circular arrays._

_As the seal fragments continued migrating from Kushina's position, more and more surface area of the workshop's floor would become occupied as the various arrays of kanji structured themselves into increasingly complex patterns. _

_After about a minute, the shifting had stopped and now covering 90% of the workshop's floor was a mind-boggling piece of fuinjutsu work. It was a vaguely circular shape about 15 meters in radius, but kanji in the form of various other shapes dotted the interior. The radiant azure glow from earlier had subsided, leaving nothing but black ink characters behind._

_Minato was gaping at the sight, "This…this is…?"_

_"A fuinjutsu core," answered Kushina, brimming with pride over her handiwork, "the most fundamental aspect of a seal; the integral centerpiece that determines the seal's general function. There was a reason why I couldn't find a core in all of the seals Kagami drew. It's because the seal fragments __**are **__the__core, or at least parts of it. Like a puzzle."_

_"But a core this big would mean," continued Minato, still in awe, "that the actual seal itself, if it's completed, would be the size of…of Konoha! That's enormous!"_

_"Yeah, I was shocked too," said Kushina, "but not as shocked as I was when I figured out what this seal can actually __**do**__. Since all you need is the core array to determine what a seal's general function is, it didn't take all that long for Rei to calculate the function of this one."_

_"And what would that be?"_

_"This seal, once completed," continued Kushina, "can do __**anything**__."_

_"When you say anything…?"_

_"It can do anything and everything, whatever you can think of. At least in theory," explained the red-haired firebrand, "It could alter reality, twist time, warp space, control matter, manipulate energy, and even make you ramen! Basically…it's the power of a __**god**__ in the form of a seal."_

_Epiphany. Realization. Revelation. Eye Opener. Whatever it was called in whatever language, Namikaze Minato had just experienced it, thanks to his wife's words._

_"The power…of a god," Minato repeated, still in his state of epiphany, "The power of a…god. A god! It's the power of a god! That's…that's it! That's it, that's it, that's it!"_

_For all she understood, Kushina was looking at her husband like he had just grown to heads, "W-What are you talking about and getting all excited for, Minato? I'm very lost here. I know that the power of a god is great and all, really, really great actually, but I don't understand why yo-…"_

_"But don't you get it!" exclaimed Minato as he grabbed his wife by the shoulders, interrupting her sentence, "It's the power of a god! This is what Choetsu was talking about! And it's also what Amaterasu is after our heads for! Your brilliant, Kushina!"_

_"W-w-w-wait, h-hold on here. Wha-…I mean…who-…" stammered Kushina, "who the hell is Amaterasu?"_

_"The most beautiful women in the universe!"_

_Slap. _

_"Oh, thanks for the vote of confidence!" barked Kushina after having whacked Minato in the face, "Aren't I suppose to be your wife?"_

_"Yes you are, and I love you," replied Minato, now with an angry, glaring red mark across his left cheek, "but she's a goddess and you just can't compare!"_

_Slap._

_"Did I mention that she's trying to kill us…?" added Minato, after having recovered from the second smack._

_Slap._

_"Ouch! What the hell was that one for?"_

_"Sorry, rule of three," answered Kushina with a not-so innocent smile, "Now, can you rewind back to the part about this goddess slash divine bitch trying to kill us, again."_

_"Are you going to slap me again?"_

_"No, four is death. Bad omen."_

_"But I like the number four!"_

_"Of course you would. You're the Fourth Hokage. Now, back to the goddess bitch trying to kill us…"_

Flashback End

"Wait, hold on!" exclaimed Choetsu, interrupting Minato in the middle of his tale, "How can you be talking about Amaterasu if you're discussion with Kushina happened _before _Amaterasu tried to kill you?"

The interrupted Hokage turned to look at his companion and future grandson with a confused look on his face, "What…are you talking about? I talked with Kushina after Amaterasu attacked me…"

Choetsu scoffed, "Uh, no you didn't. I remember. I asked you what happened with Kushina right after I saved you from Amaterasu's attack. You had your little husband-and-wife discussion before Amaterasu appeared before you, so it's impossible for you to have talked about her with Kushina."

"Have you gone senile, Choetsu? I talked with Kushina after Amaterasu tried to kill me," replied Minato, "Are you trying to mess with my head or something, cuz I'm not falling for it. That happened today, Choetsu, I don't think I would forget it so soon. I talked with Kushina after you saved me, that is why I was able to talk about Amaterasu with her."

Choetsu's eyes narrowed in suspicion, still unconvinced by his grandfather's words. Using the Human Path of his Rinnegan, the time traveler performed a brief and slightly invasive probe of Minato's mind to make sure he wasn't lying.

Seeing that no lie was detected, and no observable alteration in Minato's memories had occurred, Choetsu whispered to himself, "How…curious."

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Don't worry about it," said Choetsu, averting the conversation, "Besides; you have other things to worry about. We've got company."

The Rikudou pointed towards the entrance of Ichiraku's, prompting his blonde ancestor to look.

Walking into the humble eating establishment was none other than Amaterasu herself, in all her beauty. The goddess's outfit had changed; gone was the radiant white and gold kimono, now replaced by a black kimono top and a long, elegant black skirt that pooled all the way to her feet. Other than that, she looked as beautiful as ever.

Minato had to wipe some involuntary drool from the side of his mouth. The strange thing was that no one seemed to notice her. A goddess walks into the stand, and Minato would think that all of the eyes (all of the male eyes at least) in the room would naturally gravitate towards her divine beauty.

"Light perception altering field," said Choetsu out loud, "I figured you would be wondering."

"Oh," replied Minato, having realized that his mind had been read, "Thanks. I guess."

Amaterasu finally spotted them, before giving the two blondes a death glare. Then, two black feathered angel wings suddenly unfurled from behind her, before the Sun Goddess suddenly disappeared in a flash of yellow light.

"W-was that…my Hiraishin?"

"Oh, heavens no," responded Choetsu, "She merely converted her body into a beam of light, which was then transmitted to her desired destination and reconverted back. It's a form of non-_Jikukan_ based teleportation. The light rays that her physical body is transformed into are what causes the yellow flash."

"Oh, I see. What do you think she came here for?"

"To challenge you," answered Choetsu.

"What…?"

"She came here to challenge you to a fight," repeated the time-displaced Rinnegan-user, "You don't want to keep her waiting, do you?"

"But I thought you said-…!"

"Never mind what I said! Go after her."

"I'm going to get obliterated…"

"Oh please," replied Choetsu, "She knows that she can't actually kill you, as long as I'm around. You'll be fine. You said you wanted to fight her. Now go. Tell me the rest of your story when you get back."

The Fourth Hokage looked hesitant for a moment, before he got over it and nodded. Seconds later, Namikaze Minato vanished with his own yellow flash.

"Well then; this should be interesting," said Choetsu, now by himself with the other patrons of the ramen stand. He thought back to what Minato had said; how he had spoken with Kushina about Kagami's fuinjutsu scroll after meeting and almost getting killed by Amaterasu.

The Rikudou Hiraishin was pretty damn sure that that was not actually what happened. His memory wouldn't fail him to that extent. Something had changed.

"Are the events of history…being rewritten without my knowledge?"

* * *

><p>The battle on the bridge had taken a turn for the worst.<p>

Kakashi was still held up in combat with Momochi Zabuza, who was using an extremely dense version of his _Kirigakure no Jutsu _as a perfect counter for Kakashi's Sharingan.

With the advantages given by his _dojutsu's _sight nullified by the mist, Kakashi was left playing a game of cat-and-mouse as the former member of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist used his _Silent Killing_ technique to launch numerous surprise attacks against the elite jounin. It was only Kakashi's honed sense of smell and fast reflexes that kept him in the game.

He wasn't worried about himself though.

Kurama, his surrogate little sister and student, was still trapped in the dome of ice mirrors created by Zabuza's apprentice, the masked Haku. She had recovered somewhat from the earlier demonic outburst that assaulted her mind and body, and was keeping her inner bijuu under control.

But she was still ridiculously outmatched. The only reasons she had survived so far (besides the fact that Haku was far too kindhearted to actually kill her, but she didn't know this) was because of the protective _dome _of shadow clones that had piled themselves around their original, deflecting any attacks they could with kunai while using their own bodies as glorified meat shields for all the rest they could not. Every time a _kage bunshin _was destroyed in a pop of smoke, Kurama would simply replace it with another. The vixen's massive chakra reserves were really coming handy in this situation, as she was barely even exhausted from all the clone usage. The numerous welts and cuts on her body were more of an issue for her.

Despite this strategy, Haku's attacks still came too fast, and some would get through and nick Kurama herself. But the situation was still better than it had been earlier, when there was nothing between her and the storm of attacks that her masked enemy could deliver.

Deep down, however, Kurama knew she could not keep this up forever. Even with her boundless stamina, the rate at which her clones were being obliterated was far too great and would eventually wear her chakra levels thin.

She needed to find a way to escape the dome.

But she couldn't do it alone. Sasuke was still outside of the dome, protecting Tazuna, and he was the key. As much as she hated it, she had to trust and believe in her Uchiha teammate. Her only other hope was her brother, but he had yet to show up and she could not always rely on him. Sasuke, on the other hand, was present and was her teammate as well. She had to believe in him.

"_Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu _(Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique)!" exclaimed Uchiha Sasuke as he released a rapid-fire barrage of small fireballs from his mouth. His attack proved ineffectual when the fireballs failed to melt through any of Haku's ice mirrors, causing Sasuke to grit his teeth in frustration.

"Damn it…Sasuke," said a breathless Kurama under her pile of shadow clone defenders, "I…I already tried all of my Katons. None of them work on this bitch."

"Now do you realize how futile it is," spoke the masked kunoichi, addressing the Hokage's daughter with a voice full of ice, "Please consider surrendering. I don't want to have to kill you."

Kurama nearly growled in her aggravation, annoyed at how the enemy was talking down to her, "Like hell I'll give up, you big-breasted bimbo!"

Haku had the decency to blush, still sensitive about the recent additions to her chest.

"So be it…"

Another storm of attacks erupted around Kurama, but this time it was much, much faster. She couldn't replace her clones quickly enough and they were all destroyed in the blink of an eye, followed shortly by the original Kurama herself screaming out in pain and anguish as the flurry of senbon needles massacred her body again.

Hearing the cry of agony, Sasuke grew desperate as a new feeling welled up inside his soul. He didn't know what it was, or where it came from; all he knew was that he absolutely, positively, undoubtedly did **not** want to hear his female teammate in that kind of pain **ever** again. Not if he could help it.

So, taking out three kunai, one of which had an exploding tag wrapped around the hilt, the younger Uchiha heir threw them all at different mirrors, hoping to distract the masked Ice-user. It worked, as Haku was forced to temporarily end her assault to deal with the thrown projectiles.

She deflected the rigged one first, before deflecting another and then catching the third. After the exploding tag detonated harmlessly in the distance, Haku threw the one she had caught back at Sasuke, who narrowly dodged it by sidestepping.

As the returned projectile whizzed past his face, Sasuke caught a glimpse of his red-haired teammate. This glimpse; merely a fleeting moment of eye contact, was the glimpse that turned the tides.

In that special, solitary moment, the two members of Team 7 reached a connection that they've never experience before, as Sasuke's onyx and Kurama's sapphire met. The first thing that Sasuke noticed was the burning fire of determination on the attractive vixen's face; an expression that told the world that Namikaze Kurama would never give up. Merely gazing upon this unfathomable expression gave Sasuke _hope_ and ignited a fire in his soul. Her look made him realize that the situation was not as hopeless as it seemed.

The second thing he noticed was a peculiar gleam in her eye; a gleam that told him that she had a plan; a plan that would allow her to escape this mess, to turn the tides of this battle, _to save the day_. But it also told him that it was a plan that she could not do _alone_.

As determined and implacable her spirit was, it didn't change the fact that on her own, she was still helpless in a sense, trapped in that dome of mirrors. And she was counting on _him _to make up for that shortcoming.

It was up to Sasuke. And he refused to disappoint.

'_I won't fail you, Kurama_,' declared Sasuke in his head, '_But how do I pull this off? What would Itachi do?_'

Thinking back to the times he spent with his beloved older brother and benchmark, Sasuke wracked his brain to find something, anything that could help him in the current situation. Then, he found it; a particularly notable memory of a time when he had watched his older brother training in the woods. It was perfect, just what he needed.

Sasuke smirked. He turned back to Tazuna, who he had been guarding while Kurama was trapped in the enemy's jutsu, and asked, "Sorry, Tazuna-san. Do you mind if I go in there and help Kurama escape? I have a plan that might just work. "

The old bridge builder nodded, "Go on, kid. Do what you have to do."

Sasuke's smile grew even wider, as he replied, "Thank you. And don't worry; I won't leave you for too long."

Haku failed to take note of this new development, as her body began phasing back into the crystal ice mirror she had popped out of to deflect Sasuke's kunai earlier. Sasuke noticed this and began his phase of the plan, unwilling to let Haku get a chance to attack Kurama again.

Flashing through seals before ending on the tiger, Sasuke announced his clan's signature technique, "_Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu _(Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique)!" before exhaling an enormous fireball from his mouth.

The last living member of the Yuki clan ignored the attack, confidant that her ice mirrors would endure it. She was correct in her prediction, as the Grand Fireball impacted harmlessly against the icy constructs, failing to melt through completely.

But that was not its intended purpose. Instead of an attack, the large gout of flames released by Sasuke's Katon obscured Haku's sight of him, giving the onyx-eyed twelve-year old the cover he needed to execute the next phase. Drawing upon his newfound speed, thanks to the tree climbing exercise, Sasuke blasted off, flickering out of vision as he did so. No flash though; he wasn't that fast yet.

When he reappeared, it was off to the right hand side of the mirror dome. Skidding to a halt as he decelerated, Sasuke quickly threw another rigged kunai at one of Haku's mirrors, just as Zabuza's apprentice was about to slice Kurama to ribbons once again.

Forced to end her attack prematurely so she could deal with the incoming projectile, Haku quickly phased out of the nearest mirror and caught Sasuke's kunai again, rendering his attack void for the umpteenth time.

But, like the earlier Goukakyu, Sasuke's most recent kunai throw had been nothing but a distraction, for both himself and to save Kurama's hide. Taking advantage of the time it had bought him; Sasuke sped off again just as his own kunai was hurled back at him and exploded.

He circled around to the far end of the dome, before coming to a stop and gathering chakra to his feet, like what he had learned from tree climbing. Quickly, before Haku could perform any other action (as she was still in the middle of phasing back into her mirror), Sasuke released a burst of chakra from his soles, allowing him to jump high above the dome of crystal ice mirrors.

Both Kurama and Haku saw the boy as he leaped gracefully over the dome of mirrors; one looked upon him with an expression of hope, while the other's face displayed only concern. It was the later who acted, shifting to the topmost mirror in the dome in an attempt to intercept the Uchiha.

Realizing how small of a window he had to execute his final phase of the plan, Sasuke acted quickly, drawing out several kunai from his pouch. He looked down at Haku and her ice mirror dome, and then suddenly everything seemed to slow down. He saw the world with a whole new level of clarity, and this newfound clarity opened Sasuke's eyes to an entirely fresh perspective on reality.

He could see things now that he hadn't been able to see before; imaginary trajectories and markers in the air that told him where to move his arms, where to shift his fingers, where to let go and where to _throw_. And he did just that.

One by one, the kunai flew with seemingly no rhyme or reason as Sasuke's body twisted elegantly through the air. But there was a hidden intent in their outwardly haphazard release. An intent that Haku failed to see, as she phased out of the top mirror in preparation to deflect all of the incoming projectiles, which seemed to be converging on one general spot.

Just as Zabuza's apprentice was about to succeed in foiling Sasuke's plan, one of the thrown kunai collided with another in mid-air, causing both kunai to bounce off of each other and change trajectories. Another similar phenomenon took place with a different set of throwing knives, and then another, and another, and another until all of the thrown kunai had ricocheted at least once off another one.

Now, instead of converging on a single spot, Sasuke's barrage of kunai had all been scattered in different directions, each one aimed specifically at a different mirror thanks to the Uchiha's skill.

It had happened so fast that even Haku had failed to register and compensate for the sudden change in vectors, and by the time she had it was far too late to stop the kunai from impacting. Mere fractions of a second later, the attached exploding tags detonated, engulfing her and the top half of her mirror dome in a gargantuan explosion.

The fake hunter-nin's battered body fell from the sky, the sole reason for her survival based on the fact that she was able to erect her _Hyouton no Yoroi _before the explosion hit her, although the icy layer of defense had been obliterated in the process.

The topmost mirror as well as a few mirrors directly adjacent to it had all been destroyed; however, the mirror dome as a whole was mostly intact.

Seeing that Sasuke had succeeded and was now tumbling down slowly to Earth on the other side of the mirror dome, Kurama realized that her phase of the plan had just begun.

"My turn," said the vixen with a foxy grin, before jumping up and delivering a devastating mid-air punch to Haku's gut as she descended. The older kunoichi gasped from behind her mask, but the sound was soon muffled as Kurama followed it up with a wide, downward kick to the Ice-user's face, sending her careening to the ground. Her body crashed unceremoniously with the surface of the bridge, before tumbling roughly across the floor until she came to a stop just short of the mirror dome's edge. Kurama, in contrast, landed smoothly on her feet before skidding a few meters.

Before Haku could even get up off the floor, the Hokage's daughter had formed a cross-seal with her fingers, summoning over a dozen shadow clones which appeared in multiple pops of white smoke. The resulting smoke clouds covered the area around Kurama, obscuring her and her clones from Haku's vision.

Seconds later, a rapidly spinning metallic object emerged from the smoke cloud, revealing itself to be a large _Fuuma _shuriken, aimed straight at Haku's prone form. The _kekkei genkai _kunoichi, having finally recovered from her temporary disorientation, went and quickly got up, moving her body and using a shunshin to evade the incoming shuriken.

'_That maneuver with the kunai was…impressive, to be able to blindside me like that_,' thought Haku as she melded her body with the nearest mirror, '_But it failed to destroy enough mirrors to end my jutsu, so I can still use it. And I won't fall for something like that a second time_.'

At that moment, a small army of kage bunshin erupted from the smoke cloud that had resulted from their creation. They scattered about and ran in every single direction as fast as they could, hoping that their speed and numbers would ensure that at least the original could escape.

Haku didn't even give them a chance. As soon as her body had completely merged with the crystal ice mirrors, the senbon-wielding ninja unleashed hell upon the Kuramas, transforming the area inside the ice mirror dome into an inescapable kill zone. Every single clone was massacred by the hurricane of senbon strikes that exploded around them, resulting in their immediate dispersal as each one vanished in a pop of smoke.

The original was nowhere in sight.

"W-what…?" whispered an astonished Haku, as she took note of the fact that the original Kurama had somehow managed to disappear. That's when she noticed something in her peripheral vision, travelling through the air towards a gap in her mirror dome.

It was the Fuuma shuriken. It may have looked like it was propagating in slow motion to the masked-nin's superhuman speed of perception, but that fact was of absolutely no help to her as Haku had been far too late in noticing it.

Before she could do anything, the giant ninja star went soaring out of the gap between two crystal ice mirrors before heading straight for Sasuke, who had just landed from his previous jump over Haku's mirror dome. Before the boy could right and orientate himself after his landing, the giant shuriken transformed into the real Kurama with a pop of smoke before the vixen's airborne figure collided with Sasuke's own, knocking the two pre-teens to the ground.

* * *

><p>Sasuke's decision to leave Tazuna to save his teammate proved to be rather careless in retrospect.<p>

Without him, there was absolutely nothing standing between Team 7's client and an untimely death at the hands of Zabuza, as the rogue swordsman crept up behind the old man using the cover of his extremely thick mist. The former Kirigakure shinobi was brimming with anticipation, as he was mere seconds away from completing his goal of killing the bridge builder. Being a civilian with no shinobi training whatsoever, there was no way for the old man to survive his attack.

Unfortunately for him, just as he had made his way directly behind his target and had gripped the handle of his _Kubikiribocho _in preparation to decapitate the old man, a figure that revealed itself to be his opponent Kakashi flickered in front of him, standing his ground in between Zabuza and the client.

Zabuza swung his sword anyways, forcing Kakashi to block with his body as the assassin's humongous blade drew blood.

"Ughh…" groaned Kakashi as he gripped the bleeding wound now present on the left side of his chest. He had succeeded though, as Tazuna was still safe and sound.

"You were too slow, Kakashi," taunted Zabuza as he faced him, "Did your desire to save the bridge builder cloud your judgment and make the mist seem even thicker?"

"Even with that eye of yours," continued the former Mist-nin, "your ability to read my movements has diminished. Hehehe, allow me to enjoy this a bit more, Kakashi; I haven't had this much fun in a while! Oh, and don't worry about the brats. Haku has probably already killed them by now."

"Plus, I'm about to send you to the same place as them. You can apologize to them in the afterlife for failing to save them."

Zabuza began chuckling deeply, as he reveled in the feeling of having defeated the famous Copy-nin, so sure of his own victory. His laughter quickly died down as he finally took note of the expression on Kakashi's face.

It was not one of despair, but amusement.

"I have no need to apologize for anything," replied Kakashi with a gleam in his eye, "Look behind me, Zabuza."

The shinobi swordsman did so, gazing past Tazuna as well. What he saw there made his blood broil.

It was two of Kakashi's brats; the raven-haired Uchiha boy and the female redhead. They were both lying on the floor just a few meters outside Haku's ice dome, the kunoichi on top of her teammate, while they were both clearly very much alive.

But how!?

"T-those two," muttered Zabuza in disbelief, "those two brats escaped Haku's jutsu! That's impossible! Don't tell me this is another one of your tricks, Kakashi! I already told you that I'm not falling for it a second time."

"Believe what you want to believe, Zabuza!" retorted the Sharingan-user, "But the reality is ultimately the same. My two students, individuals you considered as trash and nothing but mere brats, just defeated and escaped your apprentice's ultimate technique. My belief in them was not misplaced."

"Heh, it doesn't matter in the end," said Zabuza, regaining his composure, "Just because they managed to escape Haku's dome of mirrors by some fluke doesn't mean they can defeat Haku him – er, I mean, herself!"

The blade-wielding assassin formed a seal, causing the mist in his vicinity to thicken even further, masking the rogue shinobi's presence as he slinked away again in secret.

"He disappeared again!" yelled Tazuna as he watched Zabuza's form blend into the foggy atmosphere.

"Tazuna-san, I want you to stay put right here; I'm going to end this fight!" declared Kakashi as he leaped towards what he hoped was Zabuza's location, "Sasuke and Kurama will protect you now they they're free. Go to them!"

"O-of course!" replied Tazuna as he began running in the direction of Kakashi's two students.

Kakashi smiled behind his mask, assured of their client's security.

"Can you hear me, Zabuza?" spoke Kakashi in a loud voice as he ran through the mist, "You seem to be under the impression that I survived as a shinobi for so long with just the Sharingan."

"You're wrong. I used to be a member of Konoha's ANBU, and I wasn't always a copycat. I think it's time now…to show you an original jutsu of my own!"

* * *

><p>The first thing Sasuke noticed when he came to was the sensation of touch; specifically, the feeling of something very <em>soft<em> and _warm_ on top of him.

The second feeling was also a sensation of touch, but this time it was the sensation of having his hands grip something that was very, very _plush_ and _round_.

The third feeling involved his sense of hearing.

"You planned for this didn't you, you little perv!" said a voice that further roused him from his state; a voice filled with a combination of amusement, annoyance, and mirth.

He opened his eyes, and finally, the sense of sight revealed his exact predicament to the boy. What greeted his vision immediately were the radiant sapphire orbs that were Namikaze Kurama's eyes, her cute, somewhat chubby and whisker-marked face and cheeks, and her distinct ruby-red hair, a trait that she had inherited from her mother Kushina.

"W-what's going on?" panicked Sasuke, "Why the hell are you on top of me!"

"Why are you asking me, Sasuke-_chan_? You obviously planned this whole thing out just so you could cop a feel of me," replied Kurama with an extremely smug expression, "I know how you think now; you just wait for the right opportunity, the right moment, and when it comes, you _pounce_!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, don't play dumb with me mister! First, was that little incident in the woods after I mastered tree climbing. Remember; when you "saved" me from falling. That was clearly just a ploy to get a feel of my boobs."

"But your raging lust wasn't satisfied back then, apparently, and now we're in such a suggestive position, which I'm certain is all of your doing. I'm pretty sure that those two hands on my _derriere_ weren't an accident!"

That's when Sasuke finally realized what his hands were groping.

"Gahhh!" squealed the pre-teen boy as he removed his hands from Kurama's ass. His whole body jerked in panic as he desperately tried to disentangle the position they were in, while the red-haired vixen simply laughed at his predicament.

Her expression of mirth quickly turned to a grimace when she noticed a change in her teammate that hadn't been there before. Sasuke took notice of this and asked, "What's wrong, Kurama?"

Then, in a voice filled with a combination of fear and strangely, _anger_, Kurama replied, "Y-your eyes…they're _red_."

Red, with a pair of black _tomoe _revolving in each one…

* * *

><p>On top of the Yondaime's carved head at the Hokage Monument, a figure materialized out of pure light. This beautiful, divine creature sported glossy, raven hair in a <em>hime<em>-cut style, a pale, milky white face and red eyeliner that offered a delicious contrast with her alabaster skin, and wore a black kimono top and a long, flowing black skirt. Two magnificent black-feathered angel wings sprouted from her back. She was Amaterasu, one of the _kami_.

The goddess smirked as she looked upon the village of Konoha, before raising her right index and middle fingers in a half-tiger seal. Suddenly, a voice spoke from behind, interrupting whatever it was that she was planning to do.

"Don't…you…dare," threatened Namikaze Minato with the cold voice of a seasoned killer, as he held one of his custom-made Flying Thunder God kunai to Amaterasu's neck, "If you so much as lay a finger on my village…"

"What are you going to do about it?" asked the Sun Goddess in a haughty voice, "I'm a divine being; do you really think threatening to slit my throat with a measly knife is going to scare me?"

"I'm not threatening you," replied Minato, his voice calm and composed, "I'm merely stating an important fact. You've made a big mistake, Amaterasu. A really, really big mistake."

"Did I? I have no idea what you're talking about?" was the divinity's smug response.

"Do you really not know? Has no one ever bothered to tell you that," said Minato, as he began flowing lightning chakra through his kunai, causing it to sparkle with electricity, "if you have any sense of self-preservation, if you value your life whatsoever, or even your very existence, there's one thing that you should never, ever, _ever _do…"

"And what exactly would that be?"

"…make me angry."

Amaterasu scoffed at his response, before gathering a collection of divine light energy to her finger tips. The energy formed a small, sun-like sphere the size of a marble. Despite its size, the tiny orb contained tremendous power.

The Hokage grimaced at this, before he immediately sent a telepathic message through the mental communication seal etched on his body. The seal sent the message to one of his shadow clones that was standing on top of his office building, who instantly erected a _Jikukan-Kekkei_, or Space-Time Barrier, upon receiving the order.

Seemingly unaware of this, Amaterasu stretched her arm out, pointing her glowing finger at the village, before firing off the small orb of energy in a flash of light. Instead of exploding as expected, the resulting beam of light simply vanished as it struck the barrier erected by Minato's clone. The Yellow Flash gave a mental sigh of relief. It was short lived.

"Two point five seconds," said Amaterasu.

"Wha-…" was all Minato could say, before a giant cataclysm of light erupted from above. Looking up, Minato saw to his horror that it was an enormous, gargantuan explosion in the night sky…the explosion of the _Moon _itself as Earth's sole, natural satellite body became a rapidly expanding cloud of relativistic debris.

"Two point five seconds," repeated Amaterasu, destroyer of moons, "That's how long it takes for light to travel from this planet to its only moon. That's also how fast my light energy projectiles propagate. And it takes another two point five seconds for light to make its way back to this planet, so that explosion you just saw actually happened two point five seconds ago."

Minato's eyes widened in unadulterated terror, as he realized what exactly had happened, "My…my Space-Time Barrier; when it sent your attack to another location…"

"That's correct," replied Amaterasu matter-of-factly, "You were smart enough, or at least lucky enough, to have the other end of your barrier facing upwards. Thanks to that, my attack was sent flying up into the night sky instead of downwards into the ground, where the resulting explosion would have obliterated this entire planet. Unfortunately, your moon was in the way. Now the expanding debris will shower your world with death and destruction."

As if the universe wanted to prove her wrong, the expansion of debris from the destroyed satellite started to reverse, collapsing inwards as the scattered mass began coalescing. Minato and Amaterasu watched as a new celestial body started to materialize from the swiftly compressing cloud of ejecta.

Within seconds, the world had its moon back.

Amaterasu sighed in disappointment, "It's just too bad that you have that damn Rikudou on your side."

Minato smiled while giving Choetsu his silent gratitude.

"Why are you so relieved," Amaterasu spoke suddenly, "This isn't over yet. We're not finished here…vermin still need to learn their place."

Then, she vanished with a yellow flash.

Minato cursed under his breath, before sending another telepathic message to his clone. Upon receiving the message, the clone gave the mental equivalent of a nod and placed two fingers on the floor of the roof he was standing on. Now, using the Nidaime Hokage's _Sacred War Pulse_ technique, Minato's clone could sense everything in contact with the ground throughout the entire village and the surrounding area.

The Hokage's plan was simple. His clone would use the Nidaime's technique to detect Amaterasu wherever she materialized in or around the village, and the real Minato would pursue her as fast as possible with his speed and Hiraishin. The shadow clone would send Minato the coordinates using the mental communication seal link.

Of course, if Amaterasu chose to teleport to a location far out of sensing range, then there was nothing Minato could do about it. But he had a feeling that the goddess wasn't planning to do that. No; she had challenged _him _to a battle, and Minato very much doubted that an individual with her pride would just flee all of a sudden.

He decided it was time to level the playing field, and use _that _jutsu.

"_Ninpou: Ken Kotei _(Ninja Art: Blade Emperor)!" exclaimed Minato as he gave a dramatic wave of his arm. Suddenly, a dozen of his Hiraishin kunai appeared in mid-air surrounding their owner. They hovered around Minato momentarily before all twelve of them began rapidly revolving around him, faster and faster until a cyclone of blades had formed.

This was the Blade Emperor; a new jutsu Minato had developed recently. It allowed him to control and levitate his tri-pronged kunai, turning them into swift, highly mobile, and best of all _teleporting _attack drones. Now, with his arsenal of blades circling around him, the Yondaime Hokage waited.

It wasn't long, a couple minutes at most, until Minato received the first coordinates as Amaterasu materialized in the middle of a dirt road roughly three hundred meters from Konoha's main gate, and several kilometers from the carved mountain Minato was standing on. Although it was outside of the village, it was nowhere near being outside of the Yellow Flash's pursuit range.

One quick teleport to the closest seal to Amaterasu's location (a tri-pronged kunai hanging from a tree branch by a rope), and Minato was now only twenty six meters away from her. Not good enough, in his opinion.

What many people didn't know was that Minato didn't have to teleport _directly _next to a seal. Hiraishin was based on the Summoning Technique, and it wasn't unusual for summoned animals to appear a certain distance from their contract holders, instead of right next to them. The Food Cart Destroyer technique, taught to Minato by his sensei Jiraiya of the Sannin, took this little quirk to its logical conclusion.

And, just as the summoning technique had a warping radius, so did Minato's Flying Thunder God technique. When he first invented it, the warping radius was only about five meters. It was rare that Minato could exploit the radius in any advantageous manner.

But now, after nearly two decades of improvements born from trial and error, Minato had extended the warping radius to a whopping fifteen meters! With that kind of a radius, at certain ranges Minato didn't even need to throw a kunai. He could simply let go of one his kunai, and if the enemy was within fifteen meters, Minato could flash to them in an instant.

He wasn't so lucky here. Amaterasu was standing twenty six meters away from him. This would take a special maneuver; one that the Yondaime had learned to perfect with the help of his new Blade Emperor technique.

He summoned one of his special kunai, but instead of summoning it to him directly, Minato teleported it to the very edge of his warping radius. Now, the tri-pronged weapon was suspended in mid-air by Minato's Blade Emperor Technique, roughly eleven meters from Amaterasu's position. Perfect.

The next step; using the kunai he had just positioned within eleven meters of his target, Minato teleported again…this time straight into Amaterasu with another kunai now shoved into her lower back.

The entire maneuver, from Minato teleporting from the Hokage Monument to him literally backstabbing Amaterasu took about a half-second.

"I told you not to make me angry," taunted Minato, as he pressed his weapon further into Amaterasu's back. His confidant demeanor disappeared, however, when he noticed what exactly was leaking from the wound in Amaterasu's back.

It was not blood, or even _ichor_ as the legends would say, but a rich, golden light. The light grew brighter in intensity until it blinded Minato's vision, and when his eyes had finally recovered…Amaterasu was gone.

He didn't panic; Minato had no time for panic, and he wasn't the panicking type anyways. It was just a couple seconds later when he telepathically received another set of coordinates from his clone. This time, Amaterasu had teleported to a location inside the village. It was a mostly abandoned residential sector, populated mostly by the lower class and the homeless. Minato had plans for renovations, but now there was a hostile goddess there.

Minato teleported again, this time using one of the myriad of seals he had scattered around his village to place him directly next to Amaterasu. Quick as a lightning, the Yellow Flash teleported his flying mobile Hiraishin kunai directly into his target as soon as he arrived; the result was a chaotic storm of yellow flashes as the flying kunai performed their own rendition of Minato's _Hiraishin no Senko Mai_.

When it was over, Amaterasu was gone again, having teleported away during the blitz. Minato received a third set of coordinates, outside the village this time and sixty-four meters from the nearest tag. The Hokage flashed again, jumping fifteen meters away from the aforementioned tag and fifteen meters closer to his target. That meant he needed to cover twenty-nine meters more.

This time, he teleported another kunai at the edge of his own warping radius, which was fifteen meters closer to the target, and then _another _kunai at the edge of that one's radius, which gave him a kunai close enough to Amaterasu for him to teleport to her directly.

It proved only futile, however, when Amaterasu teleported away faster than Minato could do anything. He gritted his teeth in frustration. Amaterasu was beating him at his own game; the game of speed and evasion. No one had ever bested him in that. He was the fastest man in the world, or so the Raikage said.

Of course, Choetsu had always been faster than him, ever since Minato had met the time traveler, but he didn't count. Choetsu was not a man. Even calling him a god did not do him justice, considering how easily he manhandled one of them.

His musings were cut short when another set of coordinates came in, and Minato was off again. This time, it took four jumps to reach Amaterasu. Then the one after that took five. And the one after that took seven, then three again, then just one, then four, then eleven, then two, then two again, then eighteen, then nineteen, then twenty one, then seven again, then forty three, then finally zero, as Amaterasu had apparently decided to teleport out of Minato's sensing range.

The game of teleporting cat and mouse had gone on for a half-hour already, and Minato was sick of it. What was this goddess trying to do, exactly?

There was a tugging on his consciousness as Minato was alerted by the proximity sensor on a random Hiraishin kunai of his, located somewhere within Earth country. In case one was wondering what one of the dreaded Yellow Flash's kunai was doing in Iwagakure's host country, it was simply there to help facilitate any potential infiltration plans into Iwa just in case Minato ever needed to go on some dashing adventure that results in him saving the world or something equally grandiose.

Or maybe there just was a nice, foreign ramen stand nearby. You can't go wrong with Ichiraku's, but a little variety couldn't hurt.

Anyways, Minato felt a tugging on his consciousness, alerted by one of kunai. He was ninety-nine percent sure that the cause of said alert started with "Ama" and ended with "Terasu". One yellow flash later and Minato was in position to confirm his prediction.

And yes, he knew that it could possibly be a trap. But when your enemy is a divine goddess who can annihilate your entire planet in the blink of an eye, what's the point of being cautious about something as mundane as a trap.

When he arrived at the disturbed kunai he found, not a goddess, but a message that had been carved into a rock face with a laser beam, although Minato didn't actually know about the laser beam part.

"Look up," read Minato softly. Being smart enough to know that it was a trap didn't dissuade Minato from choosing to humor the goddess anyways (as she was a goddess and could blow up his planet at will, so it didn't really matter in the end whether he fell for her trap, unknowingly or not). So, he looked up.

First, he saw the sun, as it was daytime in that part of the world.

Second, he saw the sun explode. Or at least the image of the sun exploding a little over eight minutes after it had actually happened. Speed of light limitations and all that.

And then finally, he saw nothing but blinding light as the resulting supernova engulfed the Earth and burned Minato's world to cinders

The End.

Okay, not really, since the Rikudou Hiraishin was generous enough to reverse what had happened, erasing the cataclysmic destruction of the planet from history and therefore reverting everything back to normal. Those damn Rikudou.

Anyways, back to our hapless Hokage. Minato was once again standing in the same spot as before, completely unharmed and wondering what the hell had just happened. The myriad of questions in his head would remain unanswered for the time being, unfortunately, as another set of coordinates was sent to Minato's brain.

Amaterasu had returned to the Hokage Monument.

One short jump later and Minato was there with her, standing atop his own carved head once again. He immediately summoned over a dozen of his kunai with Blade Emperor, which simply hovered around him in formation. He did not command them to attack, as it was futile against the Sun Goddess. At this point, he just wanted to talk.

"Enough of this game, Amaterasu," said Minato, addressing the divinity, "You've proven your point. I get it now. You're faster than me. That's what you wanted to show me, isn't it?"

"Yes, but not just that," responded the goddess in kind, "I wanted to show you just how inferior you and the rest of your kind really are compared to me. If Namikaze Minato, the most famous and most powerful shinobi on this planet and the strongest kage in your world's entire history, can lose so badly to me in a contest of speed, your own specialty, then what does that say about the rest of you sorry lot."

Minato glared at her, "Well, are you satisfied now. You've had your fun. You know as well as I do that you won't be able to kill me permanently as long as I have Choetsu on my side. So what's keeping you here?"

"Oh, you silly ape…I'm not quite finished yet," replied Amaterasu, accompanied by an arrogant laugh, "I've proven how beneath me you are in terms of speed…but there are other statistics I haven't quite gotten to yet. Your weapons for instance; I will show you how useless they are against me."

Without even so much as a gesture or sign, Amaterasu vaporized the kunai hovering around Minato using multiple flashes of yellow light. It happened so fast that Minato, the fastest shinobi in the world, did not even have the time to react.

"My attacks are light speed," explained Amaterasu, "Your fleshy, mortal brain isn't capable of reacting at that level. Now, I will show you how worthless you're defenses are! This next attack will vaporize your body with ease, so either that Rikudou will save you, or he'll let you die and revive you."

The next blitz of light happened just as fast as the last, as Minato's body was bombarded by a chaotic storm of yellow flashes. When the flashes ended, however, Minato was still there…surrounded by hexagonal shields of azure chakra, floating around him in mid-air while forming a protective cocoon.

"So, he chose prevention over a cure," remarked Amaterasu with a look of disdain, "That damn Rikudou."

'_But I didn't do anything, this time_,' spoke a voice in the goddess's head.

"What?"

"You're wrong, Amaterasu!" rebutted Minato, as the protective cocoon faded away, "Choetsu didn't save me this time…_I saved myself_. Meet one of the new sealing arrays I designed: _Zettai Bogyo no Fuin_. The Seal of Absolute Defense."

"Picture countless plates of reinforced, solidified chakra in the form of hexagonal shield defenses, stored in the numerous etchings on my body that make up the seal. Whenever a threat is aimed at my person while the seal is active, the sensory aspect will detect it and calculate its trajectory and power, before teleporting a sufficient number of chakra shields layered on top of each other into position to block the attack using Hiraishin."

"Because it's automatic, involuntary, and controlled by the seal itself," continued Minato, "instead of my "fleshy, mortal brain" as you put it, the Seal of Absolute Defense isn't restricted by ordinary biological limitations. And since instantaneous teleportation is used to position the shields, not even the fastest attacks can penetrate it. As an absolute defense, it's truly instantaneous and truly _absolute._"

Amaterasu scoffed in disbelief, "Impossible! No defense is truly absolute, especially not a mortal one. This is just another trick of that Rikudou!"

Minato gave her one of his brightest grins in response, before speaking, "Believe what you want to believe, Amaterasu, but this is my power."

'_You see that, Ama-chan_,' whispered the voice in her head again, '_This is the power of the human race. Learn to appreciate it, because it's a lot more powerful than you give it credit for. Don't forget, I was a human once_…'

"Like hell I'll learn to appreciate it! I'd rather die than acknowledge those sniveling vermin!" exclaimed Amaterasu, as she pointed one elegant finger at the Yondaime Hokage, "Even if your so-called "absolute defense" is fast enough to intercept my light speed attacks, assuming that it is your defense and not some trick of that Rikudou again, that doesn't mean it has the strength to resist the sheer godly power of my all-destroying light! Welcome to oblivion, Namikaze Minato…"

Another beam of golden light erupted from Amaterasu's fingertips, fast as photons, before collided against the Hokage's absolute defense. The Sun Goddess faltered momentarily when she realized that Minato's layered hexagonal chakra shields were resisting her golden beam, but she quickly ramped up the power. The beam intensified, becoming stronger and stronger as it burned through the shield layers, while Minato's seal responded in kind by teleporting more shields into position, stacking them on top of each other in the hope of resisting the goddess's power.

It was a desperate hope, unfortunately. While the number of shield layers that could be erected by Minato's Seal of Absolute Defense was ultimately finite and limited, Amaterasu's power was virtually infinite by human standards. It wasn't long before her golden beam would finally reach a power level intense enough to pierce Minato's defense, and they both knew that.

"Two point five seconds," said Amaterasu again, "until my beam breaks through and kills you."

She was only half right. Her golden beam of light did penetrate the absolute defense in almost exactly two point five seconds, as she said it would. Instead of incinerating Minato, however, the beam was warped away by a Space-Time Barrier that Minato had succeeded in erecting during those two point five seconds. Amaterasu was not pleased.

"Saved by another one of your Space-Time techniques, huh mortal," said Amaterasu, visibly disgruntled, "And this time you were smart enough to face the other end of your barrier away from the moon. Ughh…how annoyingly banal; let's see what you can do without them, shall we?"

The goddess snapped her fingers, causing a golden aura to blossom from her hand. The aura expanded outwards, engulfing the entire mountain in its ethereal glow. With that, Minato knew instinctively that Hiraishin would be impossible to use from now on.

"I want to see you dance, Hokage," taunted Amaterasu, while her outstretched palms glowed with unbridled golden energy, "Dance for me! Swerve in terror! And most importantly…run! Run, and show this world that even the best of humanity is an ant in comparison to the likes of me! You shall all pay for your hubris."

Minato didn't run. He had no fear. He knew that Amaterasu couldn't harm him in any permanent manner, thanks to Choetsu. This battle was now nothing but a matter of pride for the two of them. Amaterasu wanted the satisfaction of breaking his spirit, and by proxy the spirit of humanity, while Minato wanted the satisfaction of having resisted her power without faltering.

But, even with the greatest lifeline ever in the form of a True Rikudou, Minato was having a hard time keeping his body's natural instincts in check. He was dealing with an immortal goddess in possession of a massive superiority complex and enough firepower to lay waste to a galaxy, after all.

"So, you aren't going to run, huh" continued the Sun Goddess, a tinge of disappointment in her voice, "Oh well. I'll just end it here then. I am going to destroy you and this entire village of yours in a flash of light, and I assure you…this time, there will be no holding back from me. Your precious Konoha will be destroyed, and while that cursed Rikudou will simply fix all the damages…"

"…know that, in the end, _you were powerless to stop me_. You will remember today as the day that Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, was utterly incapable of saving his own village, his own people, and himself. I hope this failure will haunt you for the rest of your short, pathetic lifespan…"

"**Okay, that's enough out of you, women**," said an amplified voice from behind. Suddenly, ten clouds of white ninja smoke exploded in the sky around the Hokage Monument. From each smoke cloud emerged a hulking, iron-grey behemoth with glowing white circular cores centered on their armored torsos, and azure chakra exhaust wafting from boosters built into their bulky, metal boots.

This was the full ensemble of "_Tetsuma_"mecha puppets in Sasori's arsenal; a grand total of _ten _fully armed and armored Iron Demons, one for each of Sasori's fingers. The puppet master himself, clad in his Techno Release _Kyokutanna Mode _armor, was hovering somewhere out of visible sight, controlling his mecha puppets from faraway.

"_Akasuna no Sasori_," announced Amaterasu with a tone of disgust, "Impossible! How could someone see through the perception filter I created to prevent interferences?""

'_That nifty little suit of his is my handiwork, Ama-chan. Did you really think a mere god-level perception filter would be able to deceive my technology_?'

Amaterasu gritted her teeth in frustration, the telepathic words clearly testing her patience, "Damn Rikudou. Regardless, this new mortal vermin is of no threat to me."

"**No threat to you**?" resounded Sasori's amplified voice, emanating from all ten of the Tetsuma puppets at once, "**I have enough firepower here to bring entire nations to their knees in submission. Who are you, lady**?"

"I'm Kami-sama," was Amaterasu's terse reply.

"**Bullshit**…"

"No!" exclaimed Minato, jumping into the exchange, "She isn't lying. You're no match for her; the only reason why I'm alive, why this entire planet is still intact, is because of Choetsu!"

"**Choetsu-sama**," boomed Sasori, "**Are you an enemy of his**?"

'_More like my pet_…'

"I'm no one's pet! Your pathetic metal toys will be nothing but heaps of scrap when I'm through with them," threatened Amaterasu. As if reality itself had responded to her words, the air around the Iron Demons shimmered with translucent energy before erupting in a storm of yellow flashes. When it was over, each of the Tetsuma puppets had been reduced to their component pieces.

Sasori was pissed, "**How dare you. Kami-sama or not; no one ever…ever… ever calls my puppets toys!**"

As if sown together by Sasori's rage, the pieces of Tetsuma began reassembling themselves using chakra strings that connected each of the components. Moments later, all of the Iron Demons were intact and looked as good as new. Then Sasori himself flickered in, hovering above his formation of mecha puppets with brilliant wings of exhaust propagating from his back-mounted thruster bits.

"Hmm, nice trick for a mortal…," stated Amaterasu while bringing up a radiant golden hand in preparation for an attack, "…but this time I'll vaporize them!"

Sasori brought up his own arms in response, revealing the glowing, cerulean orbs radiating energy in his palms. Amaterasu hesitated, but not because of Sasori.

"You know what," began Amaterasu while lowering her arm, "I might as well squeeze as much amusement out of this situation as I can while I'm still here."

With a dramatic wave of her other arm; Amaterasu summoned her own small army of Tetsuma copies. They were exactly identical to Sasori's puppets, except they were composed of ethereal, golden radiance instead of mundane metal. Sasori grimaced behind his suit's faceplate.

"**What exactly are those supposed to be**?"

The Sun Goddess smirked, "Hard light constructs; you can't touch them, but they can certainly touch you. Now, I will crush you in your area of expertise, just as I have done to the Hokage…"

"I'm afraid this is as far as it goes," interrupting another new voice, "_sister_."

A twitch. A twitch had developed in Amaterasu's left eye. This twitch, like many of its kind, was the result of some deep seated frustration with the world. In this case, Amaterasu's patience had reached its limit, and her frustration at being interrupted one time too many had finally reached its breaking point. She snapped.

"What is it!" screamed the irate goddess, before turning towards the direction of the new voice, "Who dares interrupt m-…oh. Oh it's you. I had a feeling you would come, eventually. Susanoo, God of Storms…_my brother_. Damn it…"

Minato drew his attention towards the direction from which the voice that Amaterasu had addressed originated. There, he found a man clad in grey samurai armor similar to what was worn by shinobi in the Shodai Hokage's era. He was floating, or more accurately standing, atop a storm funnel that looked like a spherical tornado or a mass of chaotic, storm-like winds shaped into a hovering orb.

The man had spiky grey hair that billowed outwards in every direction, looking as much like a storm as hair possibly could. He had a goatee and an unruly grey moustache, but his face looked young and full of energy. Flashes of lightning brewed in his grey eyes, and a neutral expression planted itself on his face. The man, or god as they would come to know, spoke…

"Hello, sister. I've come to put a stop to this madness," said the man in deep baritone, "Have you somehow forgotten that this Human Realm is under my jurisdiction. I don't very much appreciate you causing chaos and discord in MY realm."

Amaterasu laughed, "I could say the same of you. Have you forgotten your place? Don't forget…I was always the most powerful, baby brother. Only our father is a more powerful kami then I am!"

Susanoo shook his head in dissent, "Like I said: this…is…MY…**REALM**!"

The Heavens shook and the Earth trembled, as the fury of the Storm God reverberated throughout all of creation. Minato and Sasori, both at ground zero, were the first to feel the rising energy levels. Pure, undiluted, unadulterated power erupted from every pore of Susanoo's being, before diffusing into the air around him. The godly power stirred the air, swirling it faster and faster as a tempest of unimaginable ferocity began raging around the god, obscuring him from sight.

Wisps of air coalesced into tornado-like tendrils, dozens of them twisting and coiling around the storm. Guided by the will of Susanoo, the spiraling winds weaved themselves into shapes and structures. A discernible figure began materializing from the hurricane, taking form as a recognizable entity. The end result was a colossal tengu-like construct similar to the Mangekyo Sharingan technique that drew its namesake from the Storm God himself, but made from an impossible cohesion of divine wind and lightning. The construct, Susanoo's true form, wielded a blade of lightning which crackled constantly with azure electricity, and was roughly fifteen meters tall.

'_So, the god shows his true form. Will Ama-chan respond in kind…?_'

Amaterasu did indeed respond to her brother's challenge. Her body was suddenly engulfed by the light of a burning sun, blinding both Minato and Sasori. When their respective visions recovered, the beautiful goddess was gone and replaced by an enormous, humanoid, and vaguely feminine figure composed of pure light. The figure, roughly the same height as Susanoo, was scantily clad in radiant, golden armor, wielded a spear of light, and possessed six golden seraphim wings sprouting out of her ethereal back. This was Amaterasu's true form.

"**You do realize that clashing in our true forms like this will destroy the planet and the surrounding space, right**?" said Amaterasu, sounding about as smug as any angelic light construct possibly could sound. Behind his faceplate, Sasori's eyes widened at this little piece of information. Panicking, the puppeteer tried to send his Tetsumas to stop the ensuing battle, but they were intercepted and held back by Amaterasu's hard light Tetsuma copies.

Then, Sasori himself tried to intervene, but the Yondaime stopped him, "Don't bother with them, Sasori-san. There's really nothing you or I can do about it. They're on another level from us. But don't worry, Choetsu will keep us safe. How do you think I'm still alive?"

Sasori nodded. He would trust in the Rikudou Hiraishin for now.

Meanwhile, back with the two kami; "**Do you think I care about this planet, Amaterasu; is that why you think I intervened? Because I assure you; I could care less about this tiny little insignificant world. There are trillions upon trillions of galaxies in this ream alone, and in each galaxy there are millions, billions, hundreds of billions of stars. If you think I care about this world becoming collateral damage in our battle, then I think there's something you sincerely need to reevaluate**."

"**Then why intervene**?" was the goddess's response, "**If this world is so insignificant, so miniscule, so infinitesimal in this dimension, then why bother intervening at all. And why would that damn Rikudou take such an interest in it**."

Susanoo scoffed at her question, "**It's the principle of it all. I'm sick and tired of you tampering with my realm. This isn't the first time you've encroached on my jurisdiction, and I'm pretty sure it won't be the last**."

"**So what do you plan to do about it**?" asked his sister in a taunting matter, "**I don't need to remind you that we're both immortal kami**."

"**Of course not; this is purely for the sake of stress relief and anger management**," retorted Susanoo, before charging his divine sister at the speed of lightning itself. Amaterasu responded in kind, rushing at her heaven-borne sibling with equal speed.

The sensors of Sasori's Kyokutanna went haywire as a massive, sudden build-up of energy manifested itself in the quickly narrowing space between the two kami. Time seem to slow down as the two divine entities inched closer and closer to each other, one thrusting a spear of light and the other a blade of lightning.

Minato knew instantly that, as soon as those two colossal figures collided, the world would end. There was nothing he could do to stop it besides place his faith in Choetsu, and on that horrible thought, the Fourth Hokage realized that Amaterasu had won.

Her goal today was to show him how utterly powerless and insignificant he was in comparison to her, and his aim was to prove her wrong. But, as he looked upon the scene in front of him, Minato realized that he could not save anyone. These two divinities would destroy the planet in their clash, and there was no safe haven to teleport to, no seal or barrier he could erect, and no technique he could cast to save the day. In that respect, she had succeeded, and he had failed. She won, and he lost.

To be honest, this really should've become apparent to him the first time Amaterasu had blown up the moon. But as they say; third time's the charm, and it wasn't until now that his state of helplessness really hit him. But now it was clear to Minato…

If he, the Fourth Hokage, could do absolutely nothing to save his own village, his own people, his own _world_…then what was the point of him?

The Namikaze's self-deprecating thoughts were cut short when a cloud of smoke suddenly erupted between the charging Amaterasu and Susanoo. From the cloud a shining white pillar of light emerged, shooting up into the sky and stopping the two kami in their tracks.

"ENOUGH!" roared a voice from out of the pillar, which seem to echo across all of creation. It was a powerful, commanding voice. It was a voice filled with charisma, a voice that was used to giving orders and having those orders followed. It was the voice of a king.

'_Oh look, daddy's home. Suzy-chan and Ama-chan are going to get grounded_…'

The godly forms of Susanoo and Amaterasu gave each other a look, before glancing at the pillar. Then, the pair of fifteen meter tall colossi vanished as the two kami reverted back to their human-sized forms. The king's pillar dissipated, leaving in its place a new figure.

He wore a white, regal robe decorated with rich, accented golds, similar to the white-and-gold kimono that Amaterasu had worn when Minato first met her. The man had long, gleaming white hair with a topknot, as well as a bushy white beard that draped down to the upper part of his chest. There was a necklace of golden beads around his neck and a wooden spear held in his right hand. At the end of the spear shaft was a curved blade of polished metal, with a line of kanji inscribed on its surface.

The figure gave both Amaterasu and Susanoo a look of disdain, before slamming the butt-end of his spear into the ground. From the point of impact, a wave of blinding white light exploded outwards, obscuring Minato's and Sasori's vision for the umpteenth time. After the light receded, the three kami were gone.

"Well, that was quite anticlimactic," chimed in another new voice, "I was just about to bust out the popcorn to!"

"Choetsu/**Choetsu-sama**!" said both Minato and Sasori in unison, as they finally registered the presence of the time-travelling Rikudou, who was floating in mid-air above the Hokage Monument.

"Yes, that's my name, and a more beautiful name could not be uttered. Now then," began the Rikudou Hiraishin while slow descending towards the Yondaime' head, before planting his feet on the top of the carved statue, "puppet boy; I have a new intervention mission for you. Don't worry about guarding Konan anymore; she didn't really need it in the first place to be honest. And yes its true, I just brought you here for my own amusement. Toodles."

Sasori was just about to retort when Choetsu snapped his fingers, causing the Tetsuma puppets still floating around to vanish in pops of smoke and the armored puppet master's propulsion system to suddenly ignite. With his boosters firing, Sasori began buzzing around the Hokage Monument erratically against his own will for several seconds, completely unguided and uncontrolled. Then the overdrive kicked in, and Sasori was blasted off out of sight and into the horizon, accompanied by an ear-shattering sonic boom which masked Sasori's own panicked screams.

After witnessing this, Minato turned towards Choetsu and gave him a strange look.

"In case you're wondering, I was just going to teleport him away," said Choetsu in response to his grandfather's look, "but that was too boring so I changed my mind."

The strange look remained.

"Oh, don't give me that face! He'll be alright," continued Choetsu, brushing the Hokage off, "If he can survive me smashing a meteor into his face from high altitude, then he can survive this."

"Where did you send him?" asked Minato, finally speaking as the strange, warning look on his face receded.

Choetsu shrugged, "I forgot. That was so long ago…I'm pretty sure it was someplace important though. I think…?"

Minato shook his head in exasperation, "Sigh, never mind. Who was that?"

"By "that", I'm assuming you're talking about either A, the god who attacked Amaterasu, B, the other god who stopped the fight, C, that delicious redhead you kept subconsciously glancing at in Ichiraku's, or D, all of the above…"

"D," answered Minato, before taking a figurative double-take, "No wait! I mean both A and B! Yeah, that's it…"

Choetsu smirked, "Well, I'll tell you about C anyways. That redhead at the ramen restaurant (yay for alliteration) was actually an eldritch abomination from another dimension disguised as a human female."

Before Minato could panic, the transcendent being continued, "Don't have a heart attack now, gramps, she isn't a threat. I've met her a few times before now; great in bed, wouldn't hurt a fly unless you insulted the law of gravity, but ultimately irrelevant as far as this story is considered. Seriously, this isn't any kind of foreshadowing whatsoever. I'm being very honest with you readers when I say that she won't appear or be mentioned in this work of literature ever, ever again after this paragraph. Now then, where was I…?"

Minato, on his part, was very, very confused. But hey, what's new?

"Uhh, you were supposed to tell me about A and B?"

"Ah yes! Ei is the Yondaime Raikage of Kumogakure no Sato, and Kirabi, or Killer Bee as he likes to refer to himself, is Ei's little br-…"

"No! Not that A and B! The two gods that just showed up today…"

"Why would you want to know about them? I don't see how that's relevant, but okay," replied Choetsu, "A is Suzy-chan, and B is Nagi-chan. They're better known as Susanoo, the Storm God and brother of Amaterasu, and Izanagi, the father of Amaterasu, Susanoo, and the god Tsukiyomi, as well as the most powerful kami in the universe. He's basically their head honcho. He's a pretty okay guy."

"What…what were they doing here? And where did Izanagi take them?"

"Well, the Human Realm is Susanoo's jurisdiction, so he definitely didn't appreciate it when his sister started messing around with his domain," answered Choetsu, "And Nagi-chan showed up to stop the two from fighting and bring them back home."

"But I thought you said that gods didn't have the power to travel between realms."

"They don't. I summoned Izanagi here while you two were fighting. Suzy-chan was already in this dimension, since it is his realm after all."

"What do you mean by "his realm"?" asked Minato.

"My, my; all these questions you ask," said Choetsu, "Basically, while we Rikudou oversee the infinite multiverse and the entirety of all creation, the race of kami have been given the duty of running individual universes.

"Each of the Six Realms of this universe has been delegated to different major kami, while Izanagi, their king or emperor in a sense, lords over all of them. Susanoo's domain is the Human Realm, the dimension that your world exists in. Amaterasu, the second most powerful kami, is in charge of the God Realm, the dimension where the gods originate from and have taken as their main residence. Got it? Good. Are we through with the questions now?"

Minato nodded.

"Well that's great, because I'm not through with you yet. Ama-chan interrupted our discussion earlier, and you still haven't finished your flashback moment," said Choetsu, "Meet me back at Ichiraku's in five minutes. I have some business to attend to. Oh, and by the way; Teuchi is wondering about the bill."

"Where are you going?"

"Nowhere important," replied Choetsu, "Well then; as a good friend of mine would always say…allons-y!"

He vanished with a yellow flash, leaving Minato alone on top of the Hokage Monument. A lone tear formed in Minato's left eye, as he looked over his village from above.

"I…I couldn't protect you," said Minato, his voice filled with utter self-disdain, "I was just so powerless and weak. I'm sorry, Konoha…"

The Hokage's fists clenched with unquenchable fury. The Sun Goddess Amaterasu would pay.

* * *

><p>"Hey, you two!" yelled the bridge builder Tazuna as he ran towards his two protectors, "Good job! I can't believe you guys escaped!"<p>

Tazuna stopped running, however, when he noticed the state of the two genin. Kurama was shivering uncontrollably and kept her distance from Sasuke. There was a strange expression on her face; a unique combination of unbridled fear and barely controlled anger. The Uchiha stared back with a mixture of worry and confusion, a pair of Sharingan now active in his eyes.

The infamous bloodline of the Uchiha clan; Sasuke was finally able to unlock it. This moment would have been all the much better if he could only figure out why Kurama was looking at him so peculiarly. She just kept saying the world "Madara" over and over again, like a mantra, and he had no clue what that meant.

He never got the chance to figure it out, unfortunately, as Kurama suddenly screamed out when a senbon needle nicked through the skin of her left shoulder, drawing blood. Sasuke turned abruptly to find their assailant.

Of course, it was the masked ninja Haku, who was now standing in the middle of her crystal ice mirror dome; the same dome that Sasuke and Kurama had successfully escaped from just moments earlier.

"I won't…I refuse to fail Zabuza-sama," said Haku, her voice filled with ice. With a dramatic wave of her arm, the dome of mirrors around her collapsed into liquid form, creating a large puddle of water around her. Then, as quickly as that had happened, the newly displaced water rose and shaped itself into over a dozen water clones of Haku.

Sasuke immediately got up and drew a kunai, but he was too late. The water clones had charged forward at full speed, before jumping into the air and surrounding them. Then, to their collective horror, all of the water clones transformed into crystal ice mirrors in mid-air, trapping Kurama, Sasuke, and now Tazuna in Haku's icy prison once again.

'_I must kill my heart with a blade_,' thought Haku, before she glided forward, closing the distance between herself and her new mirror dome. The Hyouton-user phased into the nearest mirror, projecting her image to all of them and surrounding the two Leaf-nin and their client. They were doomed.

"I'm sorry…but it has to end now," said Haku apologetically, before unleashing a storm of attacks with the intent to kill.

Tazuna closed his eyes, he knew what was coming.

But it never came.

After a few seconds, the old bridge builder opened his eyes out of grim curiosity…and saw a yellow flash.

"Sorry I'm late guys, but the hero always saves the day last minute!"

* * *

><p>Elsewhere…<p>

"So, it was you."

"I'm not sure what you're talking about…"

"Oh don't play dumb with me. You sent Amaterasu after Minato-jiji, didn't you?"

"…"

"Yeahhhhhhhhhh, you did. Definitely. That's your "how did Choetsu-sama figure it out, he's a genius" face."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. This is my normal face. The one I always have on…"

"Exactly."

"Oh, don't be so smug, Uzumaki."

"I'm not smug, just excited. A new challenger has arrived. I had a feeling it would be you."

"Really?"

"Well, you weren't my first choice. I thought it would be _him_, but you were one of my prime suspects."

"I see. Sigh, it looks like there's no point in hiding it anymore. Yes, Choetsu, I was the one who sent Amaterasu."

"And you were also the one who altered the time stream so that Minato would end up meeting Amaterasu before his discussion with Kushina, instead of the other way around like it happened in the original time line."

"Ye – wait, what?"

"You didn't alter the time stream?"

"No, I have no idea what you're talking."

"Hmm, you don't seem to be lying, as far as I know. Well, that's not good. In fact, that's not good at all."

"What are you talking about? What altered time stream?"

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'll tell you everything later. Let's just concentrate on the pluses now, instead of the minuses," said Uzmaki Choetsu while giving his companion a Cheshire grin, "You've finally, finally decided to stop being a boring spectator in this game. Now, you're a _player_. That's great news! Oh, I can already imagine all the fun we're going to have…"

"…eh, _Sennin-teme_."

TBC

A.N. And, we're done. That last fight scene took longer than I expected. I had to cut down on the flashback just to have time for it, but I think it was worth it in the end. Next week I'll have the rest of the flashback discussion between Kushina and Minato, the continuation of Nanabi versus the Deva and Asura Paths, Kakuzu vs Human Path, and the two Taki-nin versus...something. Oh, and how could I forget more of the bridge battle, as we get our rematch between Naruto and Haku.

Also, I reserve the right to use Shinto mythology in a liberal manner. I'm not a Japanese myth expert (all my info comes from Wikipedia haha), so please don't flame if I get anything wrong about the kami. To be honest, they're really just placeholders because I wanted the gods in my cosmology to have Shinto names and be related to actual mythology.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed, and please read and review, people!


	30. Chapter 29

Disclaimer: Hey, did you guys here about that one guy? Yeah, he said he owned Naruto. They sent him to jail for that, poor fella. Glad I'm not that guy, hehe.

Author's Note: HAPPY BIRTHDAY "IT'S RIKUDOU HIRAISHIN TO YOU!"! I can't believe its been a year since I started this project. A lot happened this year, some good and some bad, but in the end I wouldn't have it any other way. Okay, maybe not. I could use a little more good and a little less bad, but hey, don't we all?

Anyways, I kind of rushed this chapter to get it out on the anniversary, so apologies beforehand about the reduced length. I wouldn't say its my best chapter either, but I hope you all enjoy nonetheless. Especially since I worked so hard to get it out early to all you folks.

It's Rikudou Hiraishin to You

Chapter 29: The Last Yuki

"_Sorry I'm late guys, but the hero always saves the day last minute_!" exclaimed Namikaze Naruto enthusiastically after saving Kurama, Sasuke, and Tazuna from Haku's attack.

His two teammates and their client were mere moments away from being eviscerated by Haku's blitz when Naruto flickered on the scene and parried every single one of her supposedly untraceable attacks. From their point of view it looked like a protective storm of yellow flashes had erupted around the three.

When it was over, standing in front of them in a crouching position was Naruto in all his glory. His black track suit with orange stripes and white-beige ninja pants were a sight for sore eyes, and the Leaf insignia engraved headband wrapped around one of his shoulders was for all intents and purposes a symbol; a symbol that said "no bridge builders dying today".

Kurama couldn't help but beam, as a mischievous glint appeared in her eyes. Tazuna sighed in relief while wiping some sweat from his brow, while even Sasuke was smirking. The situation didn't seem nearly as helpless as before. With Naruto here, now they could win.

Haku was having a totally different sentiment. '_How unfortunate; I was hoping to finish this before Naruto-kun arrived. With him here it will be much harder to kill the bridge builder. Plus, I'm running out of chakra to maintain the mirrors. I need to end this now… I must not fail Zabuza-sama_!'

"Tell me," said Haku while addressing the newly arrived blonde, "How did you react to my true speed? The last time we fought I could almost keep up with you using my normal speed."

"I improved," was Naruto's simple answer.

"In just a week…?

"Yup, but that's not all. Speed isn't the only thing I've improved in the past week," said the Hokage's son, before turning towards his crimson-haired sister with a grin, "Cover me, Kurama. This is gonna be big."

Kurama grinned back, and prepared herself. She was looking forward to this.

The male Namikaze began a short set of hand seals, which Haku attempted to take advantage of. Kurama had anticipated this, however, and quickly placed her fingers in a familiar cross seal. The vixen summoned a small army of shadow clones around them, who sacrificed themselves as meat shields to block the flurry of attacks Haku had sent to stop Naruto.

They were all dispelled in the blink of an eye under the onslaught of _senbon _needles, obscuring the group in a large cloud of white smoke.

Before Haku had time to do anything else, a voice exclaimed from the smoke, "_Fuuton: Shippugadan _(Wind Release: Hurricane Fang Bullet)!"

Suddenly, over a dozen tornado-shaped fangs composed of drilling air and wind chakra erupted from the smoke. Each hurricane fang bullet spiraled out towards a different ice mirror each, before colliding with great force against almost every mirror in the dome. Upon impact, the razor sharp torrents of wind drilled through the icy constructs, smashing them to pieces and bringing almost the entire dome of demonic crystal ice mirrors down.

The obscuring cloud of smoke dispersed immediately after Naruto's technique was launched, revealing the _genin _of Team 7 and their client. Huge, radiant grins were plastered on the faces of the Namikaze siblings, while their third teammate simply smirked. Tazuna sighed in relief after having seeing the dome of mirrors shatter.

The crystallized image of Haku frowned behind her mask in one of the few remaining intact mirrors. She hadn't expected a Fuuton of that caliber; wind users were rare after all. Haku didn't have enough chakra left to recreate the dome, but thankfully she still had a couple of other ice mirrors still intact hovering a mild distance to the side of her foes.

If she acted quickly, she could use one of the mirrors to-…

"Sasuke!" barked Naruto, turning his head slightly to look at the raven-haired boy behind him, "Two mirrors at eight o' clock!"

Taking the hint, Sasuke pivoted on his right foot, spinning his body about forty-five degrees to the left before unleashing a hail of rigged kunai upon the two icy constructs. Haku flashed forward to stop him. One step and a _shunshin_ later, however, and the Ice-user was intercepted in mid-air by a right hand smash to the face, courtesy of a certain blonde Namikaze.

With the incoming attack stopped in its tracks, Sasuke was free to complete a set of hand seals ending on the tiger. Taking a huge breath, the younger brother of Uchiha Itachi released a dragon-shaped inferno from his mouth, the stream-like currents of which ran down the ninja wire attached to the kunai he had thrown earlier.

"_Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu _(Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique)!" exclaimed Sasuke as the mass of draconic flames engulfed the two ice mirrors, igniting the exploding tags wrapped around the hilt of each of the kunai acting as conductors for the flame. The resulting explosion, combining the firepower of both Sasuke's Katon and the exploding tags, utterly obliterated the two mirrors.

As she plunged unceremoniously through the air, reeling from Naruto's Body Flicker assisted punch, Haku noticed, in the corner of her eye, her last mirror (the one she had launched her attack from) being destroyed by a small army of Kurama clones concentrating all of their firepower on it.

With that last mirror vaporized, Haku could no longer utilize her true speed until she could make another one, which would be some time considering how little chakra she had left. Until then she was at a major disadvantage in the speed department.

Haku's back burned in pain as her body skid across the ground, eventually losing momentum several meters away. Her face felt like she had slammed head first into a wall; a result of her mask caving in when Naruto had punched it at full speed. The mask was cracked and she could feel her disguise slowly crumbling as she limply picked herself off the floor.

The last member of the Yuki clan looked down at her hands, which were emitting a wispy, vapor-like mist of silvery light, and thought, '_I didn't think I would have to use this jutsu. I only have enough chakra left for one, so I better make this count_…'

"Give up! You're surrounded!" threatened Naruto, and he was right. With Kurama blocking any potential escape plans from behind (having just destroyed Haku's last mirror, which had been behind her), Sasuke to the left, and Naruto on the right, the masked apprentice of Zabuza was boxed in.

Thanks to his Sharingan, the sight of which still made Kurama uneasy, Sasuke was able to notice the strange, frigid chakra rolling off of Haku's hands as well as her face in waves.

"Naruto!" yelled Sasuke, catching his blonde teammate's attention, "She's releasing some weird chakra from her body. We need to stop her."

Naruto nodded an affirmative, but Sasuke's warning proved redundant when three, jet-like streams of snow white radiance suddenly erupted from Haku's body, one from her head and another from both hands. Seeing this, Naruto immediately drew a kunai, coated it with razor sharp wind chakra, and threw it at the chakra geyser that was now Haku.

Likewise, Sasuke unleashed a flurry of shuriken while Kurama summon a shadow clone, which promptly transformed into a large _Fuuma _shuriken and was thrown by the original. Sasuke's _dojutsu _watched as all of three sets of projectiles flew at the enemy kunoichi in slow motion, all converging on one spot.

Mere seconds before Naruto's kunai hit its mark, the streams of icy chakra spurting from Haku's hands and face subsided. Haku's already cracked and crumbling hunter-nin mask had been blown off by the streams, so when she turned her head to look at the Hokage's son and the incoming kunai…her true face and identity was revealed to him.

Naruto froze for the shortest of milliseconds, taking the revelation in as a familiar face greeted him. Then, he sprung into action.

Quick as lightning, the son of the Yellow Flash flickered forward, grabbing his own kunai out of the air just inches away from Haku's nose. Pivoting slightly on his heel, Naruto changed directions and flickered again, reappearing just in time to deflect Sasuke's thrown shuriken with his kunai.

Finally, with one more brilliant flash of yellow, Naruto vanished and reappeared behind Haku before parrying Kurama's incoming Fuuma shuriken with his own blade. The entire sequence of events took place in the blink of an eye. Before she knew it Haku had a knife held to her throat from behind, courtesy of Naruto, who had his back turned towards her own.

"Who are you?" whispered Naruto coldly, chilling Haku's very soul to the bone. Remembering her own woodland conversation with the blonde boy, Haku pondered the paradox of how such a normally bright, warm, and cheery boy could sound so frigidly intimidating. Namikaze Naruto was a living contradiction.

Sasuke, for his part, was very, very confused. Normally, he would've harangued his male teammate by now about why exactly had he just saved an enemy shinobi from their own weapons, but even he could see the gravity of the current situation. There was an aura of grave seriousness floating around Naruto, and for that reason Sasuke decided not to press questions at the moment.

Just in case, he had a hand in his weapons pouch, ready to throw shuriken or kunai at a moment's notice.

Kurama had, at first, been in the same situation as Sasuke; confused and wondering what the hell was wrong with her brother. But as soon as she had seen his face, Kurama completely froze in her tracks. She had only seen a face like that once before in her mortal life; the face of her father when he had rescued her on the night of their graduation. That was the first and only time she had ever seen him in a serious fight.

It stunned her, seeing the resemblance as she did now.

"Again; who are you?" repeated Naruto, after having received no interference from his teammates or an answer from Haku, "You look like someone I know. Someone I met in the woods once…"

"That's because you did," said Haku, finally answering, "It's me, Namikaze Naruto. I'm the one you met in the woods."

Naruto grimaced, although it was not visible to Haku or Sasuke, "I figured you would be. Why?"

"Why what?" responded Haku, "and why don't you just kill me?"

"Why are you fighting for a guy like that? Zabuza, I mean!" clarified Naruto, his voice growing louder, "I won't kill you until I get my answers. I wanna know your story."

A sad look blossomed on Haku's pale face, "A real shinobi wouldn't hesitate to kill me immediately. For any reason."

Suddenly, Naruto pivoted around Haku, shifting his body so that he was facing her but the kunai was still pressed to her neck. Haku's eyes widened momentarily when their mutual gazes connected; his eyes were just so _blue_. They were intense to the point of blinding; twin pools of sapphire like oceans set ablaze with eternal light. They burned into her soul, filling it with a heat that was both scalding and warming at the same time.

But there was darkness there. This boy had seen hell, just like Haku had. But what was it? What kind of hell could a young pre-teen from a peaceful village like the Leaf experience?

"Well, I guess I'm not a real shinobi then," replied Naruto, his gaze still locked with hers, "I'm just a kid, really…"

"Aren't we all," was Haku's somber reply.

Naruto was about to retort, when he felt the air around him drop a level in temperature. No, that's not right; it wasn't the air that was colder. It was him.

Naruto felt like the heat was leaving his body, as if it was being sucked out by an external force. Of course, Sasuke could've told Naruto exactly what was going on with his Sharingan, but unfortunately, the clan heir's bloodline was currently inactive due to the boy's dwindling chakra reserves.

"You feel it, don't you," whispered Haku.

Naruto nodded, "That's you, isn't it. Your jutsu, whatever it is, that geyser thing; it did something to the air, and now the heat is being sucked out of my body."

Both Sasuke and Kurama were confused by Naruto's statement. They didn't seem to be suffering from the same malady.

"_Hyouton: Gokkan no Honshitsu _(Ice Release: Frigid Essence)," stated Haku, "This technique allows me to disperse the Ice Release chakra of my bloodline directly into the surrounding atmosphere. The icy chakra settles in the air and begins draining the heat from any living thing in the vicinity. Like you, for instance."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because," said Haku with a serious expression, "You're going to die from it."

* * *

><p>"Where is the real you?" <em>Ningendou <em>asked.

"Excuse me?" asked the bounty hunter Kakuzu, confused by the Human Path of Pain's unusual question. Unusual by civilian standards, of course; by shinobi standards it wasn't so strange or out of place.

"A simple elemental clone like the _Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu_ you're using," continued the Human Path of Pain, "is not enough to deceive my eyes."

Kakuzu frowned beneath his mask. It looks like he had been found it.

"Hmph, I figured a dojutsu user like yourself wouldn't b – ghkk!" began Kakuzu, before being interrupted just short of finishing his sentence when the Human Path suddenly flickered forward and stabbed him in the gut with a black chakra rod, not even giving him time to react.

"S-so fast…" muttered the water clone one last time before dissolving back into its liquid state. The Human Path smirked for a moment, before tensing suddenly at the arrival of a new presence behind his back.

"…But not fast enough!" exclaimed the real Kakuzu as he tried to clobber Pain with a left hook from behind, immediately failing as the ginger suddenly vanished in a flickering of black. Kakuzu's eyes widened at his enemy's impressive speed.

A few meters away, Pain reappeared on a tree branch in a crouched position. Another black chakra disruption rod extended from out of the right sleeve of his _Hoshikuzu_ cloak, before the Human Path gripped the rod like a javelin and hurled it as hard as he could at Kakuzu's exposed back.

Although the chakra rod succeeded in hitting its target, it failed to penetrate Kakuzu's diamond-hard skin thanks to _Doton: Domu_. Seeing this, Pain flickered again, reappearing with his feet on top of the bounty-hunter's back before he manually shoved the chakra rod in with all of his strength, using the unique disruptive properties of the black metal to circumvent Kakuzu's Earth Release technique.

As soon as the rod pierced him, Kakuzu's eyes widened as an erratic vision assaulted his brain, centered on the image of a pair of strange, concentric mercury eyes, the same eyes that his enemy had. They seemed familiar; where had Kakuzu heard of or seen these eyes before?

The S-Rank missing-nin struggled to resist the hypnotic influence of the concentric eyes, as he felt some external force invade the recesses of his mind. Fortunately for Kakuzu, two of the masks on his backs opened up before releasing a pair of black thread monsters, who broke their master out of the Rinnegan-induced hallucination by surrounding the Human Path on both sides and firing a gust of wind and gout of fire simultaneously.

The katon and the fuuton interacted as the Wind Release technique bolstered the katon's flames, causing an immense firestorm to explode at point blank. Kakuzu felt the resulting shockwave blast him away like a ragdoll, but knew he would survive thanks to Doton: Domu.

The bounty hunter's body tumbled across the forest floor, blown away by the explosion that had now covered the clearing in a field of smoke and debris, before finally skidding to a halt just short of colliding with a tree. Kakuzu got up immediately, brushing himself off just as the two Hearts he had released took their places alongside of him.

They were joined by two more hearts, which emerged from Kakuzu's back accompanied by the disgusting sound of bulging flesh and grotesque ripping noises. Now, with his full arsenal of black thread familiars assembled, the man who once fought Senju Hashirama and survived was ready to take this battle to another level.

Little did he know that his opponent was already watching him from above, standing atop a branch of the tree behind Kakuzu. Escaping the earlier explosion had been child's play for an entity with the Human Path's speed. He was the fastest of the Six Paths of Pain, after all.

What most people didn't know was that the Rinnegan wasn't just a dojutsu. Being a byproduct of the union of both Senju DNA (which represented the Sage's body) and Uchiha DNA (which represented the Sage's eyes), it made sense that the Rinnegan affected not just the eyes, but the body as well.

Specifically, each Path ability also boosted one particular aspect of a shinobi's physical stats. The Deva Path massively amplified the level of chakra reserves and chakra potency. The Asura Path increased strength and durability to a superhuman level by the standards of already superhuman individuals. Naraka Path accelerated one's healing factor and granted a level of regeneration, oddly enough, while the Preta Path gave one perfect control of their own chakra.

The Animal Path improved the five senses, and gave the Rinnegan-user access to the sixth chakra sense available to all sensor-nin, which is why Nagato was also an adept sensor.

And finally, and most importantly (in this particular situation), the Human Path augmented speed and reflexes to a ridiculous level. This is why Kakuzu had such a difficult time keeping up with Ningendou's speed in their battle so far, despite the ease of which he tracked Naruto's shunshin earlier.

Now, the Human Path wasn't always this fast or dangerous. Before Nagato met Uzumaki Choetsu, the Human Path (being the second weakest Path behind Naraka, combat wise) was jounin level at best and would not be able to hold his own in a battle against a kage-level shnobi like Kakuzu, at least not alone.

But now, after Nagato's body had been restored to its prime, all of the Six Paths of Pain had their abilities strengthened in proportion. Despite still being the second weakest combat wise, the Human Path was now fast enough, powerful enough, and dangerous enough on its own to fight some S-Rank shinobi on an even level. Of course, against any of the stronger kage the Human Path would still be demolished, but against someone like Kakuzu it stood a fair change, even by itself.

Unfortunately for the legendary bounty hunter, physical stats weren't the only thing that had improved for the Six Paths of Pain with Nagato's rejuvenation.

Cupping his palms together, the Human Path gathered an immense heap of pure, spiritual energy in his mouth. His cheeks bulged momentarily before the mass of energy was released into the open air, taking the shape of a light purple, translucent soul dragon.

The dragon roared once, alerting Kakuzu to its presence and sending a chill through his very soul, before the ethereal, draconic mass flew towards the former Taki-nin with incomparable speed.

He turned around, brought his arms up, and reinforced his diamond-hard skin in an attempt to block. It wasn't his fault that he wasn't aware of the fact that Pain's soul dragon was an ethereal construct that directly attacked the target's spiritual existence and bypassed all physical durability.

Kakuzu would've chosen a different course of action then blocking if he had known that, and maybe this battle would've eventually ended in his favor. Alas, it was not to be, as the ethereal dragonhead swept through him, ripping his mind and soul from his body and leaving his physical existence a dead husk.

The Human Path watched as Kakuzu's fresh corpse and his black thread familiars collapse to the ground, lifeless, while the dragon circled around and flew back towards him. The construct of spiritual energy sealed itself within its summoner, including the aspect that now contained Kakuzu's disembodied soul.

Ningendou smirked, its brief mission now complete. The smirk dissolved into a frown, however, when he remembered a particular piece of instruction that had been left to him by Uzumaki Choetsu, the _Rikudou Hiraishin_.

_He still has a role to play, so do not kill Kakuzu_…

The frown morphed back into a smile as Pain remembered what Choetsu had said after that.

…_permanently, that is_.

* * *

><p>Craters marked the earth. Huge gashes of destruction had been carved across the forest. In the distance, a smashed mountaintop could be seen, courtesy of a deflected <em>bijuudama<em>.

This is the sight that would greet anyone with a bird's eye view over the terrain; the sight of Wave Country, in its role as a battlefield of gods and demons. Thankfully, the area being devastated was not inhabited, and the only important landmarks destroyed were a few roads connecting a nearby town to the site of Tazuna's incomplete bridge.

By now, however, the echoes of the fight had resounded throughout the entire world. Even as far away as Kumogakure and Iwagakure, word had spread that a tailed beast had been unleashed. Sensor-nin from all over the world could feel the chakra and energy levels being released, as the Nanabi and Pain battled over domination of the sky.

By now, Chomei had retreated up into her skyward domain, brining the battle into the clouds to the relief of the Earth below, if the Earth had been sentient. _Tendou _and _Shuradou _followed the beast into the lofty heavens, not fearing her realm whatsoever. The winged _kabutomushi _had a multitude of black chakra rods, each the size of a human forearm, sticking out of various places in its carapace.

The Deva Path chose this moment to activate them, using a single half seal.

Suddenly, the Seven Tails screamed out in pain and anguish, deafening the land with her agony. The chakra from the black rods assaulted her being, overloading her chakra construct body with powerful, foreign energy. The Nanabi thrashed and squirmed in mid-air, flapping her six wing-like tails erratically in an attempt to vanquish the pain.

Pain immediately noticed something was wrong when the Nanabi began smoking. A closer look revealed to him that the carapace around the parts where a black rod had been stabbed was starting to bubble and distort, as if it was being warped by tremendous energy. The Nanabi stopped screaming, growing eerily quiet and still as the smoke enveloped its body.

Which all changed a few moments later when the Nanabi suddenly reeled and released the loudest, most ear-shattering roar yet. So loud in fact, that waves of chakra actually reverberated from the immense sound, and the black rods piercing Chomei's carapace shattered into pieces.

Both Asura Path and the Deva Path were temporarily disoriented from the resulting feedback, and left unable to do anything as the shockwave from the chakra roar blew them away like ragdolls.

Now free from the effect of the black rods, Chomei decided to vent all of her animalistic rage and frustration into a slowly expanding ball of chakra that began forming in mid-air, right in front of where her oral cavity would be. Negative white chakra and positive black chakra began clumping together, mixing in a perfect 8:2 ratio as the beginnings of a bijuudama came to fruition.

The Deva Path flew up, having recovered from the earlier shockwave, only to see that the Nanabi had completed the charging process of its most powerful attack. The black, chaotic, spherical mass of highly condensed chakra reached its maximum size, then stabilized just before launch. When it was fired, it was haphazardly; the tailed beast didn't seem to aim at anything or anyone in particular.

It just wanted to cause destruction.

Seeing this, Tendou prepared to summon Preta Path to absorb it, but changed his mind at the last minute. Instead, Nagato began channeling chakra from the other, idle Paths before focusing them on his Deva Path.

Taking all of the chakra that was now being directed through him, the Deva Path of Pain released it all as one massive, singular wave of pure force, while simultaneously exclaiming, "_Chou Shinra Tensei_!"

The wave of force collided with the tailed beast ball, halting its momentum and then reversing it. The bijuudama was sent back at its creator, reflected by Tendou's power over repulsion. With no time to react, Chomei took the deflected bijuudama head on. Seconds after the heavy impact, the mass of chakra detonated and released an enormous and rapidly expanding sphere of destruction which quickly engulfed the Nanabi in blinding, white light.

* * *

><p>Naruto frowned at Haku's declaration, "What do you mean I'm going to die from it?"<p>

"It should be obvious. My jutsu will continue to sap heat from your body until you eventually die of hypothermia," answered Haku, her voice cold yet somber. A hint of self-deprecating regret could almost be tasted in its tonal depths, "I'm sorry. I wish I didn't have to resort to this, but you've forced my hand. I cannot fail Zabuza-sama, even if it means killing my heart with a blade."

"What's going on, Naruto-nii?" asked Kurama out of concern for her brother.

Naruto looked at her, slightly perplexed, "Wait. Am I the only one being affected?"

Haku nodded, "That is correct. My jutsu is only meant to target a single individual."

Naruto narrowed his eyes coldly, before pressing the edge of his kunai further against Haku's delicate throat, "I'm guessing that I just can't kill you to stop it. You wouldn't have told me about it, otherwise."

"Indeed. You're smart, Naruto-kun," replied Haku, "This technique will not end with my death, and since I'm the only one who can release it…if you kill me now you will have only assured your own death."

"Why can't he just run away?" asked Sasuke, with one hand still inching into his weapons pouch.

"The chakra laced air that I've mixed is molded specifically to seek out his chakra signature," explained Haku, dashing their hopes, "The only way you could stop it without my consent is if you could somehow find a way to remove all of my chakra from the air."

Naruto sighed, "Well, it looks like we're at a stalemate. My teammates and I can't kill you, or else I die, and you're not in a position to kill anyone right now. You might as well tell me that story of yours, then."

Haku's left brow rose at this in a peculiar fashion, "Really? Do you honestly want to hear my story? Especially now, right when you're about to freeze to death..."

"Of course, do you think I was joking? I…I just don't understand how a person like you could work for a guy like Zabuza."

"You're just stalling for time, aren't you?"

Naruto smirked, "Aren't we all."

Haku smiled, "Fine. Since we're currently at an impasse, I guess there's no harm. Very well then; I'll tell you my story…"

"…the story of the Last Yuki."

TBC

A.N. Just in case anyone is wondering: I DID NOT KILL OFF KAKUZU! Well, at least not _permanently_, that is. And not for very long either. Like Choetsu said, he still has a role to play in this, and when I mean this, I mean the Wave Arc. So expect him back soon.

Also, I'm sure you guys have many questions. What is Nagato's mission regarding Kakuzu, what happened to Fu, what about that full flashback for Minato and Kushina you promised us. etc. Don't worry; it will all be answered in the next one or two chapters, which will be full-sized and most likely (hopefully) not rushed. So stay tune, as they say.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed. Read and review, people!


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